When Andoni Iraola was at Rayo Vallecano he was asked in an interview with Spanish sports outlet Relevo who he enjoyed watching. His reply feels particularly pertinent now. “Marco Rose's Gladbach was one of my favourite teams,” said Iraola.
"I really like German football because as a spectator I love it when things happen. It is not a case of you attack for two minutes and then it is my turn. Every player has to do more and more roles because everyone on the pitch is attacking and defending.
"I like that football where the player does everything. The attackers press as defenders, central defenders drive forward and hold the last line. It is a very complete and tactical football, that's why I liked Rose's Gladbach, you could see that it was well worked."
More than three years on and it has gone full circle. Rose, having perhaps unknowingly inspired this Bournemouth team, will inherit it following Iraola's decision to walk away this summer. Is a Premier League side in danger of making a coherent appointment?
Maybe it is easier to make a change from a position of strength. Bournemouth continue to progress and news of Rose's impending arrival emerges at a time when they are on the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League. They could yet qualify for Europe.
But Tiago Pinto and the other decision makers on the south coast still deserve credit for an eminently sensible move. It is not just that Iraola admires him - this is not Sir Alex Ferguson handpicking David Moyes. It is why Iraola admires him that is so important.
Rose has a track record of delivering the brand of vertical football that Iraola so enjoys. Indeed, it predates his time at Borussia Monchengladbach, having been schooled as a player under Jurgen Klopp at Mainz and as a fledgling coach within the Red Bull system.
It was Klopp who told Rose back in 2004, when Mainz won promotion to the top division, that the then defender would go on to be a coach. He did so as an assistant there before working his way up from coaching Red Bull Salzburg's under-16s to taking the first team.
That Salzburg side were seriously strong, winning two titles, going unbeaten at home throughout, and embarking on impressive runs in Europe. It was his fine work in Austria that earned him his chance at Gladbach, where he qualified for the Champions League.
A move to Borussia Dortmund, who paid a significant sum to release him from his contract, came to an end after one season despite finishing second in the Bundesliga. Rose's return to the bosom of Red Bull, at RB Leipzig, brought the best out in him.
As Rose once put it, "We stand for a certain way of playing at RB," and he would go on to become the club's longest-serving head coach in the top division, building on principles first put in place by Ralf Rangnick. It is a game that Bournemouth fans would recognise.
Speaking to Leipzig's sporting director Marcel Schafer about this, he describes them as "a team who plays a high intensity with the ball but especially a high intensity against the ball" - and that was certainly true of Rose's side for much of his time in charge.
Indeed, for all the European heavyweights in the Champions League, it was only Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid who scored more goals from fast breaks than Rose's Leipzig during the period from September 2022 to March 2025 when he was in the job.
Of course, it has not all been plain sailing. Rose has been out of work for a year because his old pal Klopp, who had once claimed he could get any job in football, made the difficult decision to sack his former player after a difficult final season at Leipzig.
There was a feeling that the club moved away from their principles. "If you are one of the top teams, you need to find solutions with the ball," Schafer explained. "But we cannot change the whole philosophy. It is not authentic." Bournemouth will want the real Rose.
Certainly, his personable style should help him adapt. Rangnick once described Rose as a Menschenfanger - best translated as a people catcher. It is a phrase often used to describe Klopp. He draws people towards him, has a way of getting them onside.
Speaking to former Leipzig forward Lois Openda, he called Rose a coach who "is really intelligent and knows where to put the players" - so it is an appointment that ticks a lot of boxes. And perhaps even more so if Bournemouth are able to qualify for Europe.
This is a coach who qualified for the Champions League with three different Bundesliga clubs and knows how to manage two games a week, something that can be challenging for teams that want to play with intensity. Rose's experience would be a real asset there.
Bournemouth made it this far with smart recruitment. Adrien Truffert has replaced Milos Kerkez at left-back. Rayan looks a promising successor to Antoine Semenyo. Now, even the departure of the coach need not be the end of the journey. Just ask Iraola himself.
