ANDONI Iraola changed his mind on the possibility of becoming Leeds United boss, the club’s chief executive Angus Kinnear claims.

Iraola was heavily linked with the Whites job when Jesse Marsch was sacked in February last season.

Leeds eventually hired and fired Javi Gracia, before bringing in Sam Allardyce, but were unable to avoid relegation into the Championship.

Iraola saw out his contract at Rayo Vallecano, before Cherries swooped for him in the summer to replace Gary O’Neil.

Speaking on Leeds fan podcast The Square Ball, CEO Kinnear explained the club’s process in replacing Marsch.

He said: “The people identified at that stage, should it be decided Jesse shouldn’t continue, were Iraola, (Arne) Slot and Raul.

“Raul told us he wasn’t prepared to come to Leeds at that point. Iraola and Slot both told us they would be prepared to come to Leeds and would be made available.

“Then when the process started, it obviously happens quite quickly, Iraola decided that he wasn’t prepared to come anymore, even though he had an exit clause.

“Those conversations were good, they were warm. We thought both would’ve been candidates. Javi was definitely further down the list.

“Both of those candidates had a greater pedigree than Javi and could’ve been longer-term hires.

“The fact Iraola has ultimately found a Premier League job suggests we weren’t the only people to think he was an appropriate candidate.”