Liverpool open the door to Anfield return for popular backroom figure

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Pep Lijnders - image by Liverpoolfc.com

Preparations for next season at Liverpool are set to entail mass recruitment in both the player and coaching departments.

Pep Lijnders is poised for a potential return to Merseyside as Jurgen Klopp looks to shape up his backroom staff in response to uncertainty over Zeljko Buvac’s future.

The latter emerged as a shock storyline during a defining stage of Liverpool’s season when he stepped away from his first team responsibilities, with rumours ranging from his relationship with Klopp breaking down to the German being a possible Arsene Wenger replacement.

Lijnders recently left as NEC Nijmegen manager having failed to secure promotion to the Eredivisie after joining the Dutch second-division side in January.

He could now be offered an immediate return to Liverpool, according to Goal.com’s Neil Jones.

Liverpool coaching staff – Liverpoolfc.com

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Lijnders first joined the Reds in 2014 and swiftly built a glowing reputation as an instrumental figure in the improvement of the club’s Academy setup.

His success with the U16s resulted in a promotion to first-team development coach in 2015, before the opportunity of a first senior managerial job arrived.

Klopp himself was visibly disappointed to lose Lijnders at the time and will undoubtedly be keen to see the 35-year-old re-join his setup.

With Steven Gerrard have left his U18s post as the new Rangers manager and Michael Beale following him as part of his staff, Liverpool are also left with key Academy coaching voids to fill.

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