He's the one, Andoni Irola's most important signing for Liverpool

This will be Andoni Iraola's most important signing at Liverpool.

Now that we have sighed a breath of relief that it's over and Arne Slot is finally gone, the attention turns towards his successor. By all accounts that man is likely to be Iraola.

A former Spanish international, who has enjoyed brilliant success with Bournemouth guiding them to the Europa League, Iraola feels like the perfect fit for Liverpool.

His high intensity playing style, and his affable character are exactly what Liverpool fans wanted from their previous manager. Slot was often a little bit cold, too pragmatic in his approach with the media and when addressing supporters. He also lacked conviction in his own style of play.

For most of the campaign, Liverpool teetered at a kind of crossroads with the manager never really being certain of how he wanted the Reds to play.

That's going to be changing under Iraola. He is someone who has always employed the same style and has a clear philosophy. He isn't afraid of taking risks and will have full confidence that his way of playing is the right way of playing.

Having a manager with that kind of assuredness is going to be a massive asset for Liverpool. But now the Reds must also focus on the work ahead.

Iraola's demanding style is going to require a different change in approach. Liverpool are going to have to play more direct and they are going to have to be quicker in their transitions.

Whereas Slot wanted a more steady, controlled style of play - Iraola wants to embrace the chaos. He wants his team to play heavy metal football and overwhelm the opposition with energy and counter-pressing.

The quick direct style of play relies heavily on his centre-backs playing the ball out from the back very quickly and effectively.

If we look at his time at Bournemouth, Iraola's centre-backs played a pivotal role in ball progression. Last season no one averaged as many progressive passes as Marcos Senesi in the Premier League. The season before that Dean Huijsen led the statistics in England's top flight.

Both played under Iraola and both were tasked with playing this Trent Alexander-Arnold-like role at the heart of Bournemouth's build-up play.

With Ibrahima Konate leaving, centre-backs were already a priority for Liverpool this summer. Jeremy Jacquet coming in is someone who could be a good fit for this Senesi/Huijsen role at Liverpool but the Reds cannot rely on him alone.

It's now obvious Liverpool need to enter the market.

And who could they target?

Centre-backs who are good at progressing the ball or are elite at it are rare. Jan Paul van Hecke could be one example. He has been up there among the best centre-backs for ball progression for a while and he's still only 25-years-old.

Another option could include Giorgio Scalvini, who also plays as a right-sided centre-back and could play that role.

Nicolas Schlotterbeck will likely be in the conversation but he's a left-sided centre-back so he would suit Liverpool more when Van Dijk will depart the club, and could easily become the successor to the Dutchman's throne at Anfield.

The best possible option for Liverpool though will be Ismaelo Ganiou. He's only 20-years-old but he's elite at bringing the ball out from the back.

He can play both as a centre-back and as a right-back, which makes him the perfect profile given Liverpool need to strengthen in both areas.

Considering how vital a progressive centre-back is to Iraola's style of play, Ganiou is the one, the player who could be the most important signing of the summer for the Reds.

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