There is a story Andoni Iraola wants to tell. Just not yet.

Liverpool's new manager sat down for a 45-minute conversation in Chicago recently and gave plenty away about how his appointment came together so quickly this summer. But when the subject turned to a letter he once wrote to Liverpool over a decade ago, he smiled, held back, and made a promise instead.

"If you remind me in some months, I will tell it but I don't want to go into it right now. Look, it is a nice story but if you remember me in some months, you can ask me again."

Consider that a bookmark.

The headline from this particular sit-down is just how rapidly everything moved once Liverpool decided to act. Arne Slot was relieved of his duties at the end of May, and within less than a week, Iraola had been officially appointed as his successor. Sporting director Richard Hughes moved decisively, and the Basque manager himself says it never felt like a difficult decision once the call came.

"It was actually all quite fast," Iraola explained. "Honestly, yes it was true that I was talking with some clubs, I think it was the first or second week after the season ended. But it happened quite fast. They contacted me, and it didn't take a lot [to say yes]."

There had been conversations with other clubs. Crystal Palace and AC Milan were mentioned. Bayer Leverkusen had shown interest. But when Liverpool came in, and when Hughes, the man who had brought Iraola to English football at Bournemouth, was at the other end of the line, it seems the decision was not one that required much deliberation.

The departure from Bournemouth, meanwhile, was handled with care on all sides. Iraola is clearly a man who values relationships and does things properly, and he was at pains to point out that the Cherries were kept informed throughout.

"The process with Bournemouth was very, very clean. I still have a very, very good relationship with everyone there. We decided to announce it when it was good for both sides. They knew sometime before."

He also revealed that he had deliberately refused to think about his next move until the season was completely finished. Bournemouth were pushing for European qualification right up to the final day, and Iraola was not about to let personal considerations distract from that. Only when the curtain came down did he allow himself to consider what came next.

"I decided not to make any decision before the season finished. We were fighting for European places, we were fighting for the Champions League in the last game of the season. I didn't want to spend time thinking about what I was doing before the season ended. Only then I started to think: 'Ok what is next?' That is when I had my plan."

That single-mindedness tells you something about the man. He guided Bournemouth to sixth place in the Premier League, their highest-ever finish, and secured European football for the first time in the club's history. He was not walking away with one eye already on the exit.

Now here is where the story gets genuinely fascinating. Liverpool's interest in Iraola did not begin this summer. It did not even begin when he was making waves at Bournemouth. The connection stretches all the way back to late 2013, when the club under Brendan Rodgers were looking to add experienced defensive cover to their squad. Their search led them to a versatile, highly-regarded captain of Athletic, and recruitment chief Julian Ward made the trip in person to watch Iraola lead Athletic to a victory away to Malaga.

The approach never came to anything. Iraola chose to remain at his boyhood club, a decision he clearly made with his heart. He speaks about Athletic with the kind of deep reverence that any Liverpool supporter would immediately recognise and understand. And rather than simply going quiet on the Reds, he did something rather extraordinary. He wrote them a letter. A personal letter explaining his thinking, thanking them for their interest, and setting out exactly why, despite the appeal, he could not bring himself to leave.

Thirteen years later, Iraola is now the man in the Anfield dugout. Those early lines of communication were never really closed.

He is not ready to share the full contents of that letter just yet, and honestly, you can respect that. He is too smart to sell himself on sentiment before he has won a single match in this job.

"I don't know if I want to tell you this story this early in my career," he said. "I would like to win some games and have more time before I tell this amazing story. I wouldn't like to use it this early. It will look like I am selling myself. We need some time, to win some games."

Fair enough. Get the wins first, tell the story later. But the fact that he calls it an "amazing story" and has already promised to share it when the time is right? That is the kind of thing that makes you very glad there is a whole season ahead of us.