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Liverpool’s backroom team is huge, and the members have an express role to play in the setup.
Jurgen Klopp leads the operation, with cash experts who have delegated responsibilities and who have a duty to do their homework as they know it.
Vitor Matos, who arrived in October 2019 from FC Porto, is no different. With a non-public board from Pep Lijnders, who had worked alongside the Portuguese in his time in the Primeira Liga squad, the 32-year-old came with a magnificent reputation.
He arrived to play the same role that Lijnders had played before being promoted to Klopp’s right-hand side.
Lijnders worked first as Liverpool U16 manager, before adjusting to what Matos is now: the young players’ boy moves from Kirkby Academy to Melwood.
This role will be facilitated once Liverpool moves to its new terrain, where youth and senior groups will be in the same place, but the paintings will remain just as important.
Lijnders and Matos arrived from Porto. Both have a reputation for being developers of young players. Five years ago between the two but the similarities in his career were clear.
When Matos arrived at Anfield, Klopp spoke of the attraction: “He’s smart, his English is very smart, which is obviously vital, and he’s worked at other clubs. But he has knowledge in Porto, which is smart for us because Pep is from there too.”
José Tavares, who held a commanding position at FC Porto’s academy for more than a decade, has worked with Lijnders and Matos at the Portuguese club.
Speaking on an exclusive Blood Red podcast, he explained: “Being the one who knows Vitor and Pepijn, sure, if Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool want a suitable coach to settle for the reserve team or play another role in the first team, Vitor be ready.
“He’s a really wise guy who discovers answers and looks at how he can be bigger every day.
“He has a culture of victory in him and he already knows the club, so he’s one of Liverpool’s assets for the role they needed.”
“Sometimes when you communicate about friends, it’s simple to say smart words, but for me it’s not a matter of smart words, it’s the truth for me!
“The path of both, and now with Vitor, is proven. When he has safe challenges, he succeeds.”
Matos has stayed for him like this at Anfield, out of the most prominent as possible, with minimal public interviews.
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Tavares added: “He knows when to be at the top and when to be shy. During training, he’s a dragon! A true leader in training.
“Possibly he would seem shy, but when he’s with friends and talks football, we can watch Vitor grow up. When Liverpool gives him more light, he will turn out himself as we know him.”
It would be too simplistic to recommend that it’s just because the two came from Porto and held roles that Matos follows lijnders’ good luck.
But there are signs that Portuguese may be online for an even more important role in the coming years, just as Lijnders has now done, given favorable criticism from Porto and Liverpool in their careers.
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