Andoni Iraola to leave Bournemouth at the end of the season with next club in talks to sign sought-after manager

Andoni Iraola is set to leave Bournemouth at the end of the season.

The Spanish manager is being chased by Athletic Bilbao, the club where he made more than 400 appearances as a player, and multiple reports on Tuesday confirmed that Iraola’s time at Bournemouth will come to a close this summer, as first reported by The Athletic .

Bournemouth had held talks with the 43-year-old in an effort to negotiate a new deal for their highly sought-after manager, whose contract expires in July. But those talks failed and Iraola will depart, having led the club to finishes of 12th and ninth in his first two seasons in the Premier League .

Bournemouth are currently 11th in the table after beating league leaders Arsenal on the weekend to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games, the club’s longest in the top flight.

The news is a blow to the south-coast club as they seek to build on their impressive spell back in the top flight.