Athletic Bilbao have begun mapping out their post-Ernesto Valverde era, and the first name at the top of the shortlist is Andoni Iraola. After Valverde confirmed he will leave his post at the end of the season, the Basque club accelerated their search for a new head coach, with Iraola and Íñigo Pérez emerging as the leading candidates.
Valverde departs as a pivotal figure in Athletic’s modern history. He is the coach with the most games in charge of the club, and his period on the San Mamés touchline brought consistency, European qualification campaigns and, crucially, a long-awaited Copa del Rey triumph. His exit therefore leaves not just a vacancy, but a symbolic gap in the club’s sporting project and identity.
Within that context, the profile of his successor carries extra weight. According to reports in Spain, two names fit the criteria best: former Athletic defender Andoni Iraola and current Rayo Vallecano coach Íñigo Pérez. Both have strong ties to the club and share a footballing philosophy that aligns with Athletic’s traditional values of intensity, identity and faith in homegrown talent.
Iraola is widely seen as the strongest contender. A former captain and club icon, he wore the Athletic shirt for more than a decade and is deeply familiar with the culture, expectations and unique recruitment policy of the Basque institution. His emotional connection with the stands at San Mamés is considered a significant asset in a club where roots and belonging are not just slogans but a working model.
From the bench, Iraola has already proved he can transfer those values into modern football. He built his reputation at Rayo Vallecano, where he took a modest squad and turned it into one of La Liga’s most intense and tactically disciplined sides. Under his guidance, Rayo combined aggressive pressing, rapid transitions and a brave approach against bigger clubs, frequently punching above their weight and earning widespread praise.
Currently working in the Premier League, Iraola reaches the end of his contract with Bournemouth this summer, which makes him an even more attractive target. The absence of a transfer fee and his experience across two major European leagues feed the perception that the timing for a return to San Mamés could be ideal for both parties.
Íñigo Pérez, however, is not a mere backup option. The young coach is also a former Athletic player and, crucially, knows Iraola’s methods from the inside. He served as Iraola’s assistant at Rayo Vallecano before taking over the team himself. Since stepping into the main role, Pérez has maintained competitive standards and produced a series of steady results that have underlined his own potential as a first-team coach.
Pérez’s work at Rayo shows a coach capable of managing transitions and preserving a recognisable style despite changes in personnel. His teams have kept their commitment to pressing and vertical play, but he has added more control in possession and flexibility in the build-up phase. For Athletic, this profile is appealing: a coach who understands Iraola’s foundations but offers his own nuances and tactical tweaks.
Inside the club, the debate is therefore not simply about choosing between experience and youth, but about selecting the ideal architect for the next phase of a long-term project. Athletic’s unique policy of relying almost exclusively on players from the Basque region means that any coach must be comfortable developing academy products and integrating them into the first team. Both Iraola and Pérez know Lezama, the club’s famed youth academy, and both have reputations for trusting young players.
Another major factor is continuity versus change after Valverde. His version of Athletic was built on defensive organisation, structured pressing and efficient use of transitions. Iraola, with his high-energy, front-foot approach, would likely amplify the intensity and risk-taking in the final third, seeking to keep the team compact while pressing higher. Pérez, while sharing similar principles, might prioritise more measured build-up and positional rotations, giving Athletic a slightly more patient attacking structure.
From a dressing-room perspective, both candidates bring the advantage of having lived the realities of Athletic as players. That background can help in managing expectations around the club’s ceiling in La Liga, dealing with the emotional charge of Basque derbies, and communicating the importance of every Copa del Rey or European campaign to the fanbase.
Timing also plays a key role. With Valverde staying until the end of the season, the club’s hierarchy has a window to make a considered decision rather than a rushed appointment. Preliminary planning, scouting of potential staff members and alignment with the sporting director’s vision for recruitment and renewals can all be addressed before the new coach officially arrives. The expectation is that the board will finalise and announce their decision once the current campaign concludes, allowing for a full pre-season under the new leadership.
The choice between Iraola and Pérez will also signal how ambitious and risk-tolerant Athletic want to be. Opting for Iraola would likely be interpreted as a strong statement of intent: bringing back a celebrated former player who has already succeeded at different levels and in different leagues. Turning to Pérez, on the other hand, could be seen as placing a bold bet on an emerging coach, with the potential for a longer-term project and the space to grow alongside a relatively young squad.
In the broader context of La Liga, this appointment could reshape Athletic’s role in the competition. With power concentrated among a few heavyweights, the Basque club have often positioned themselves as a fiercely competitive outsider capable of challenging for European places. A coach with an aggressive, modern style-such as Iraola or Pérez-could help them consolidate that status and perhaps push closer to the top four in particularly strong seasons.
Beyond tactics and league positioning, there is also the emotional dimension. Valverde’s farewell is bound to be charged with gratitude and nostalgia, given his service and the silverware he delivered. His successor will inherit both a stable structure and a heavy responsibility. Winning over San Mamés quickly will demand not just results, but a style of play that resonates with the supporters’ expectations for courage, work rate and loyalty to the club’s identity.
What seems clear is that Athletic Bilbao are preparing for a carefully managed transition rather than a revolution. By focusing on coaches who know the club from the inside and who have already shown they can compete at a high level, the board is trying to protect the continuity of its sporting model while refreshing ideas on the pitch. Whether the final choice is Iraola or Íñigo Pérez, the new era at San Mamés is being built on familiar foundations, with the aim of keeping Athletic among the most recognisable and respected teams in Spain.
For now, the club will continue its season under Valverde, while the leadership finalises the details of the future project. Once the campaign is over and the decision is made public, the new coach will face an immediate to-do list: planning pre-season, assessing the squad, defining which academy players to promote and establishing a clear playing philosophy. The months following Valverde’s departure will therefore be crucial in determining whether Athletic can turn a moment of change into an opportunity for renewed success.