Liverpool

Liverpool 'hopeful departing coach will return to Anfield'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 08 May 2024

Liverpool are supposedly hopeful that assistant head coach Pep Lijnders, set to leave at the end of the season, will eventually return to Anfield one day.

Liverpool are supposedly keeping their fingers crossed that one of their departing coaches will eventually return to Anfield later on in his career.

As well as waving an emotional goodbye to Jurgen Klopp, who announced in January that he would be stepping down once the season concludes, the Reds will also part ways with his backroom staff.

Assistant manager Pep Lijnders, development coach Vitor Matos and Peter Krawietz - another one of Klopp's right-hand men - will also leave the club this summer as they embark on their own coaching journeys.

Klopp's lieutenant Lijnders was regarded as a potential successor to the German in the Liverpool hotseat, but the 41-year-old quickly poured cold water on such hopes and has insisted that he will be moving on this summer.

Instead, the Reds are expected to seal a deal for current Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot, having agreed a compensation package with the 2022-23 Eredivisie champions, and Slot recently stated that an announcement on his future is imminent.

Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders reacts on January 2, 2022 © Reuters

Former Slot boss claims Liverpool want Lijnders to return

Before commencing his managerial journey, Slot was first taken on as an assistant manager at Cambuur to Henk De Jong, whom he served 61 games under before succeeding him as head coach in 2016.

De Jong was supposedly invited to Liverpool's training base a couple of weeks ago to give Klopp and co all the information they needed on Slot, but speaking to The Mirror, he claimed that the club are holding out hope for Lijnders's eventual return.

"Everyone at Liverpool is hoping that Arne is going to do really well," De Jong said. "Pep Lijnders is not staying, but I sensed everyone at Liverpool is hoping Pep will come back to the club one day. They all spoke very highly about him and I really think he has built a big reputation for himself."

Lijnders was previously a technical coach with PSV Eindhoven and Porto before joining Liverpool as a youth-team coach for the 2014-15 season, and he was promoted to assistant manager after just one year.

The 41-year-old firstly helped out Brendan Rodgers before Klopp succeeded the Northern Irishman, and he has been a stalwart of the backroom team for almost the entirety of the German's reign.

Where could Lijnders end up after Liverpool exit?

Feyenoord coach Arne Slot reacts on February 22, 2024 © Reuters

Lijnders briefly vacated his Liverpool post in the second half of the 2017-18 season, spending 22 games as NEC manager in the second division, where they reached the promotion semi-finals before losing to Emmen.

The Dutchman is unsurprisingly being tipped to resume his head coach career in his homeland and will not be short of offers in the Eredivisie, where Feyenoord will of course be on the hunt for a new leader.

In addition, Ajax stand to lose John van 't Schip at the end of the campaign, and the former perennial champions are indeed believed to be interested in hiring Lijnders as their new head coach.

Lijnders's opportunities are not thought to be limited to the Netherlands, though, as Besiktas - who parted ways with Euro 2016-winning head coach Fernando Santos last month - are apparently eyeing a move for the Reds assistant too.