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Pep Lijnders has explained why he will leave Liverpool this summer, saying he will not be assistant to anyone except Jurgen Klopp and will now look for a manager himself.
The Dutchman, who was seen as a possible successor to the German, will start alongside fellow manager Peter Krawietz, elite progression coach Vitor Matos and sporting director Jorg Schmadtke.
The 40-year-old has enjoyed two spells at Liverpool, interrupted by a spell at NEC Nijmegen in his home country, and has worked intensively with Klopp since returning to Anfield in 2018.
Lijnders told Liverpool’s club website: “I always said I will finish with Jurgen; 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.”
In the past, Lijnders coached PSV Eindhoven and Porto before being brought to Anfield in 2014. When former manager Brendan Rodgers was sacked, Klopp was suggested to stay with Lijnders and the two formed a strong bond.
“Of course, he’s more than a colleague,” Lijnders added. “I think he’s a friend, a brother, a real footballer’s brother. We’ve been through a lot here: good times and bad. I’m confident in general, accept it as true to each other completely, that’s why it works.
“He gives me the freedom to lead the team, design training, make tactical decisions, that says it all, right? It’s unhappy that we’re leaving, but I’m excited for what’s to come.
“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.”