Jurgen Klopp’s right-hand man, Pep Lijnders, is being considered by Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg to take over as manager.
Lijnders will follow the Reds boss out of the door at Liverpool this week along with several other key staffers and Klopp believes his Dutch lieutenant is ready to pursue a top-level management career.
Ajax and Besiktas also weighed up Lijnders, who can speak five languages. But Salzburg have now emerged as a potential destination after they sacked former Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber.
Lijnders had a brief attempt at first-team management in 2018 but did not last long at Dutch side NEC Nijmegen and returned to work alongside Klopp, where he authored a tell-all autobiography called Intensity.
Some fans accused Lijnders of ’spilling the beans’ with that memoir but he has also been heralded as the brains of Klopp’s tight-knit coaching team alongside long-term ally Peter Krawietz, who also leaves this week.
Head of performance Andreas Kornmayer and head of recovery Andreas Schlumberger are also expected to leave, while Klopp’s link man between the first team and academy, Vitor Matos, is departing.
But the path for incoming head coach Arne Slot became more clear when the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) confirmed that the Feyenoord manager’s right-hand man Sipke Hulshoff will leave his duties as a Netherlands coach.
Head of performance Ruben Peeters and analyst Etienne Reijnen are also set to join Liverpool. Feyenoord’s head of goalkeeping, Jyri Niemenen, has also been touted for a move.
