It now seems to be just a matter of when and not if Andoni Iraola will be appointed as the new head coach of Liverpool FC.Almost immediately after the sacking of Arne Slot last Saturday, the former Bournemouth boss was installed as the firm favourite to take the reins at Anfield, and talks have been taking place between the relevant parties over the past few days.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYIt was reported that the Reds were aiming to finalise the 43-year-old’s appointment before the World Cup commences in eight days’ time, but it now seems as though an announcement could be made even sooner.Liverpool hoping to finalise Iraola appointment this weekOn Tuesday night, The Athletic‘s David Ornstein reported that Liverpool have reached a ‘verbal agreement’ with Iraola to become their new head coach, and he’s expected to take the job on an initial two-year contract.The Spaniard is keen to bring several of his former Bournemouth staff with him to Merseyside, including Pablo de la Torre, Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Tom Webber, and the Anfield club are hoping to ‘appoint and present’ the 43-year-old before the end of this week.Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustLiverpool have acted decisively to (all but) secure IraolaWhile it’d be unwise to jump the gun and assume that Iraola’s appointment is a done deal before he’s officially announced (think back to the Marc Guehi saga last year), it looks for all the world as though it should be concluded over the next four days or so.Assuming there are no late hitches, the Liverpool hierarchy deserve credit for acting so swiftly to bring in the Spaniard right at the start of the summer so that he’d have the maximum amount of time to plan for pre-season and the transfer window.Our assumption would be that the club were privately confident that the 43-year-old would take the job ever before they dispensed with Slot, thus sparing them any embarrassment from limping through the summer with an enormous vacancy to fill.With the seemingly imminent appointment of Iraola, Reds fans can begin looking forward to seeing the return of fast-paced, high-pressing football at Anfield, a style which served Bournemouth so well during his three-year reign at the Vitality Stadium.The hard work will begin for the 43-year-old immediately, with an innate expectation to oversee a rapid improvement from the season just gone, but we’re fully confident that he’s the right man for the job and is capable of getting Liverpool back to contending for major silverware.The post When will Liverpool officially unveil Andoni Iraola as new head coach after striking ‘agreement’ appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.