Andoni Iraola has credited his single season at New York City FC with turning him into a coach, despite spending 14 years and making 510 appearances for Athletic Club in Bilbao and earning seven caps for Spain.
Iraola moved to New York in the summer of 2015 to join NYCFC, who are owned by Manchester City's City Football Group. He lived in a Manhattan apartment on the Upper West Side, close to Central Park, with his wife Itziar and their first daughter.
At the club he played under manager Patrick Vieira alongside a star-studded squad that included Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa.
Learning the positional game
A right back for most of his career, Iraola learned to invert into a deep-lying midfielder when NYCFC had possession, a shift he says opened his eyes to the tactical side of the game. He carried that tactical style into his later coaching spells in Cyprus and then in Spain with Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano.
"I was lucky enough to have Vieira as a coach and he made me see the game differently," Iraola told Daily Mail Sport in an exclusive interview in 2024. "We used to play almost like Manchester City. I started to understand the positional game better, the possession-based football. They are tools I've used after."
"Patrick had discipline and structure. It definitely helped me a lot. In midfield you've got to be in touch with everyone. It demands a good understanding of the game and it's not a coincidence that the very big coaches come from the midfield positions. There aren't many full backs!"
An eye-opening NFL playbook
Iraola made 40 appearances in Major League Soccer, but he also spent his days off taking in baseball, basketball, NFL and ice hockey. He still plays an NFL fantasy football league today.
He found the tactical side of the NFL eye-opening, from the blocking and the spaces left open to the way teams exploit areas of the field, comparing the methodology to set-pieces. Iraola was fascinated by playbooks that sometimes stretched to 200 set-plays, though he limits his own set-piece routines to four or five.
On free afternoons, Iraola made a point of visiting a different New York neighbourhood, dining out with Itziar and striking up conversations with strangers to help his English. Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, was his favourite spot.
A glowing send-off
Iraola retired as a player in November 2016 to begin his coaching career. NYCFC's official site marked the moment with a tribute describing his playing legacy as "the epitome of consistent excellence and selfless teamwork," adding that off the pitch he would be remembered as someone who "showed humility and professionalism every single day he was at the club."
Vieira called Iraola the "perfect image of a team player," saying "everyone loves him." Villa, the club's captain and a Spain World Cup winner who remains friends with Iraola, said: "He is a wonderful person and player and I wish him all the best in the future. He knows he'll have a friend for the rest of his life in me."
Back in the Big Apple
Iraola has returned to New York several times since leaving the club, including for the last two pre-seasons with Bournemouth. On Tuesday he will be back again, this time for the second leg of Liverpool's summer tour against Wrexham in the city.
