Iraola's First Big Call: Liverpool Targets Alex Scott
Andoni Iraola has not wasted any time at Liverpool. Barely days after signing a two-year deal to replace the sacked Arne Slot, the new manager has pinpointed the player he wants to launch his Anfield rebuild: Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.
A new era, and a very different squad, is taking shape.
Iraola’s First Big Call
Liverpool’s fifth-place finish and empty trophy cabinet last season cost Slot his job and exposed a squad in transition. The departures of Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konaté at the end of the campaign have only sharpened the sense of upheaval.
Iraola has walked into a club that still expects to compete for titles, but now needs fresh legs, fresh ideas, and a new heartbeat in midfield. According to Sports Boom, he believes Scott can be that heartbeat.
The Bournemouth midfielder has been tagged “unbelievable” this season, and with good reason. His performances for the Cherries have driven his reputation through the roof and pushed him onto the radar of several elite clubs, Liverpool among the most attentive.
Liverpool Move on Alex Scott
Bournemouth know what they have. At 22, Scott is already central to their plans, and the club are desperate to keep him. A new contract is being prepared to reflect his growing status at the Vitality Stadium.
But this is the crucial twist: Scott is understood to be open to a new challenge at this stage of his career. That softens Bournemouth’s grip, even if it doesn’t lower their demands.
Liverpool are watching closely. They are weighing up a move that would test Bournemouth’s resolve and their valuation. Reports suggest the south-coast club rate Scott at up to £60 million. Liverpool, according to Jamie Dickenson, are eyeing something nearer £40 million.
Somewhere between those figures lies the first major negotiation of Iraola’s reign.
Built for Liverpool’s Midfield?
The attraction is obvious. Liverpool’s midfield, on paper, is stacked with talent: Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai. On the pitch last season, it often looked anything but secure.
Too often they were overrun, unable to control games in the way a side with Liverpool’s ambitions must. The structure never quite settled, the balance never fully convinced.
Jones, entering the final year of his contract, has been heavily linked with a move away this summer. That potential exit opens a clear lane for Scott. He would not just pad out numbers; he would arrive as a direct, stylistic replacement – bringing energy, quality on the ball, and the kind of technical sharpness that can knit Iraola’s ideas together.
There is another layer to the logic. Scott already knows Iraola’s methods and demands from their time together at Bournemouth. That familiarity could strip away the usual adaptation period and allow Liverpool’s new manager to implement his approach at speed, with at least one on-field lieutenant already fluent in his system.
For a first signing, that carries real weight.
A Statement Waiting to Happen
So Liverpool stand at an early crossroads of the Iraola era. Pay closer to Bournemouth’s asking price and make a bold, expensive statement on a 22-year-old midfielder, or hold firm around £40 million and risk seeing a key target drift away.
Either way, the direction of travel is clear. Iraola wants Alex Scott at the centre of his Anfield reset.
If Liverpool get this one over the line, it will not just be the start of a new squad. It will be the clearest sign yet of how their new manager intends to build a team capable of dragging the club back into the title conversation.
