Crystal Palace and Fulham have both identified a manager likened to Andoni Iraola as a target to replace Oliver Glasner or Marco Silva, according to reports.
Palace and Fulham looking at Glasner and Silva replacements
The two London clubs are heading into the summer with significant questions to answer in the dugout, and both have identified the same man as a potential solution.
Palace have known since January that Glasner would be departing when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The Austrian leaves behind a considerable legacy — an FA Cup triumph, Community Shield success at the start of this campaign, and an historic Conference League run.
Palace sit 15th in the Premier League after a campaign disrupted by a nine-game winless run in mid-season and an FA Cup exit to non-league Macclesfield, but the European adventure has provided a compelling narrative to close the year.
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The south Londoners are casting their net far and wide.
Chairman Steve Parish is well advanced in his search for Glasner’s replacement, with Frank Lampard, Iraola, Kieran McKenna and Marcelino among the names explored in recent weeks.
Fulham’s situation is murkier.
Silva’s contract expires this summer and, despite the club tabling an offer to extend his stay, the Portuguese is yet to sign.
Fulham remain hopeful he will commit, with owner Shahid Khan making clear Silva is central to his long-term plans, and Silva himself has batted away Chelsea links with pointed dismissiveness.
But until ink hits paper, uncertainty remains.
Crystal Palace rival Fulham with Rayo Vallecano boss Inigo Perez
As such, SportsBoom now report that both Palace and Fulham have identified Rayo Vallecano head coach Inigo Perez as a target, with sources indicating the 38-year-old is expected to leave the Spanish club at the end of the season.
Spanish outlets have reported that Villarreal are the frontrunners for his signature domestically, but Perez is understood to be strongly drawn to the Premier League, and the comparison being made about him in Spanish football circles only adds to the intrigue.
He has been described as the “next Andoni Iraola”.
That is not a casual label, either.
The two men share deep professional and personal ties. Perez was Iraola’s assistant at Rayo before the latter departed for Bournemouth in 2023.
Work permit complications prevented Perez from following his friend to the Premier League at the time, a setback he is determined not to repeat. He took over the reins at Rayo in February 2024 and has since guided them to an eighth-place LaLiga finish last season and their first European campaign since 2001.
A former Athletic Bilbao forward who retired in 2022 and moved directly into coaching, Perez is regarded in Spain as a meticulous and tactically astute operator.
His philosophy — high energy, pressing-based, built around collective organisation — mirrors what Iraola delivered at Bournemouth and what Glasner built at Palace.
For a club keen to maintain the identity and intensity of the last two seasons, the fit makes obvious sense.
Fulham’s interest adds competitive tension, and whoever moves fastest may well win the race.
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He could be a solid option for the Eagles.
