Pep Lijnders is set to start his managerial career away from Liverpool – but hinted he would like to sit in the Reds’ hotseat in the future.
Jurgen Klopp’s assistant noted that he hopes ‘our paths cross again in the future – that would be absolutely unbelievable’ as he explained the reasons for his departure. Lijnders was one of the figures tipped to succeed Klopp but believes it is a fitting time to depart the club with a strong squad.
The Dutch coach leaves the club alongside Klopp, Vitor Matos and Peter Krawietz at the end of the season with Liverpool looking to challenge in the Premier League, Europa League and FA Cup having already reached the Carabao Cup final. Lijnders sees the final six months of his tenure as the perfect opportunity to earn a fitting ending.
While Klopp told the club of his decision to leave Anfield in November, the coaching staff had a sense that the current Liverpool project was coming to an end as far back as the summer. The 41-year-old assistant coach believes new figures have already stepped up for Liverpool and that departing will not be easy.
Lijnders explained: “It’s not easy, leaving such a club. But in life I feel always you have to do the right thing and the right thing means that in the summer we said we continue and we go with all we have, we make it ‘the Last Dance’, we make it like a proper ending. Not knowing that it would be that season but knowing that the project is coming to an end.
“I felt that with the back-up of the ownership, signing the right players, we are just going back to basics. No negativity: I said it as a joke in pre-season that everybody who is or shows one sign of negativity, I will punch them in the head!
“Just to make sure that we go and draw a line, we go with a clean sheet. That’s always good, that you see it as just one season to go and with the new energy boys, with a few main ones leaving – but that created [a situation] that other boys had to step up – we were in the right frame to attack the season and then with time we do well, and it’s really nice that we can make this decision early so we leave the club with a squad who is full of hunger, full of talent, a lot of leadership as well, who can, for the next years, be really successful.”
Lijnders first arrived at Liverpool to work under Brendan Rodgers in 2014 but remained at Anfield when the Northern Irish coach was replaced by Klopp. He enjoyed a brief stint away when he joined NEC Nijmegen in January 2018. However, he made his return to Merseyside just six months later having been sacked after failing to earn promotion with the Dutch side.
The Liverpool stalwart now hopes to reinvigorate his managerial career. The moment he parted ways with Klopp was always likely to provide a platform for him to head in a new direction.
He said: “I always said I will finish with Jürgen; the moment I will not assist anyone else, that’s the moment I will go and I will manage. That was always the case. So when we spoke, it was clear for me: OK, then I go and manage, and we end this project together [that] we started. But yeah, it’s not easy.
“My boys, my wife; my boys are two proper Scousers and their whole life they will be. Maybe posh ones! But still! I cannot say thank you enough to everybody involved. I’m grateful. Mike [Gordon] and myself had a good talk later, I’m really grateful for that and that makes me [feel] as well that I can leave the club consciously.”
