When Inigo Perez takes up his station in the Anfield technical area on Tuesday night, a few yards away from Andoni Iraola, there could be a sense of inevitability to it. Where Iraola went, it seemed, so would Perez. So if one Basque gravitated to Liverpool, another would follow. Yet the former teammate and assistant will instead be a rival; the product not of any kind of falling out but as an unintended byproduct of Brexit.
Perez is now Villarreal manager. Perhaps, with different rules and regulations, he would still be Iraola’s second in command. But Liverpool’s history features two assistant managers who never sought the top job themselves but, propelled into it by circumstances, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan went on to win four European Cups between them. Now their Champions League campaign continues against a man who could be called an accidental manager, who had wanted to continue as Iraola’s No 2 until he hit a brick wall in the shape of bureaucracy.
But when Bournemouth hired the older Basque from Rayo Vallecano in 2023, when Iraola was headhunted by the future Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes, who would appoint him again three years later, the United Kingdom had already left the European Union. Perez had to apply to the Home Office for permission to work in England. Iraola was repeatedly frustrated by the Home Office’s decision he lacked the relevant qualifications and felt for his friend when he was left in limbo.
“We tried to take him to England, he was here but he couldn’t work as he didn’t have a work permit,” Iraola recalled. “We tried to do everything to convince the panel and they decided he was not good enough to be an assistant coach. I complained in that moment because I was coming with just two guys: Pablo [de la Torre, now with Iraola at Liverpool] and Inigo.
“It was very difficult because everything was very provisional. He wanted to work with us in Bournemouth but if you don’t have a work permit you cannot do it, you can’t put your kids in school and then there was a moment when we realised it was not going to be possible. We were waiting for a panel to decide whether he was good enough but once they told us he was denied, it was an uncomfortable situation for all of us.”
As Iraola accepted, Perez may have benefited in the end. After his successor at Vallecano, Francisco, floundered, they turned to Perez. He kept them up, took them twice to eighth place and to the Europa Conference League final. Villarreal came calling. “It has worked very well for him also,” Iraola smiled. “He could take Rayo Vallecano, now he is coaching in the Champions League with Villarreal and I am very, very happy with him.”
He can afford to have few regrets. Without Perez, he formed close bonds with Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, two of those he inherited at Bournemouth. “Luckily, Inigo could go on and manage Rayo Vallecano,” Iraola added. “And for me, I was able to work with Tommy and Shaun. They took on more responsibility. I had a chance to bring someone else from Spain but Tommy and Shaun were doing a great job and I was very happy with them.”
Iraola may be a talent-spotter when it comes to coaches; Elphick was offered the Bristol City job this summer. He was quick to identify Perez, five-and-a-half years his junior, as someone he wanted on his backroom staff. A relationship goes back to their days in Bilbao. “We have known each other since the academy of Athletic Club, from the first team together, and as soon as he retired I asked him to help me as an assistant at Rayo,” Iraola recalled. “We’ve been through a lot together.”
It is another illustration of the remarkable number of coaches the Basque country produces. Next week, Iraola faces Xabi Alonso, a boyhood friend, when Chelsea visit. Even after their paths separated three years ago, Perez remained a confidant. Or he did until the Champions League fixture list came out, sending Villarreal to Merseyside.
“It is not good for the relationship when these things happen,” said Iraola. “I talk to him lot but when you know you are going to face each other you stop talking. You leave the distance. This is probably the moment when we have talked less. We normally call time to time to talk about La Liga, about the Premier League, about football, about our staff and families but now when the game gets closer we haven’t been in touch.”
With Perez another advocate of a high-paced pressing game, Liverpool against Villarreal may be the closest thing to watching an Iraola side take on another. Certainly, there is a question of whether either manager will benefit from inside knowledge about the other’s ideas and methods.
“For me it is a special game because he is my friend,” said Iraola. “He knows me very well, he knows everything, and it’s also a team I follow in La Liga. It is going to be strange.”