Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on his Dutch assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders and feels that he has a big future as a manager ahead of him.

  • By James Rowe
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Pepijn Lijnders arrived at Liverpool F.C in 2014 and started training the youth team as a development manager before making the jump to assistant manager. Before arriving at Liverpool F.C he was the technical manager of FC Porto between 2007 – 2014.

Klopp said to the official Liverpool website, “What I really like is that he’s smart enough to think ‘OK, it’s not the time for it’, even when there are younger managers around the world.

“It’s a long way to go and he can still get a lot of information from us and I like how he takes it.

“His main job is being a real coach.

“I’m really happy. I never could’ve imagined that I needed another assistant, but now we have him and I cannot imagine how it would be without him.

“He is doing a fantastic job and he brings all the things in that we are not that good in, if you want.

“We are kind of old-school managers or coaches, because we’ve been [around] a long time and all these young boys are coming up and bringing new things and interests in. We use, on the other side, our experience – what is good, [we’re] calmer in decision-making, all that stuff.

“I love his mood, I love his attitude, I love already how smart he is, but still really open to learning.

“So for us, it’s perfect, especially then with his fluent English, he’s a big help for Zeljko [Buvac] especially in the sessions. They have a fantastic relationship, actually.

“I’m really happy that the club decided before I came in that he has to stay. I had no idea who he is, where he’s coming from, but it’s an interesting life already that he had, with being that long at Porto and all that stuff. Fantastic guy and an even better manager in the future.”




James Rowe (696 Posts)