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Liverpool deputy manager Pep Lijnders called on the club to lift the curtain on the Jurgen Klopp era with a “last dance” and added that the training organisation first felt his time at the club was coming to an end last summer.
The Merseyside club proved last week that Lijnders and fellow assistants Peter Krawietz and Vitor Matos would sign for Klopp to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
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All three have been key members of Klopp’s squad and the German manager recently highlighted Lijnders’ contribution and the role he has played in implementing Liverpool’s love of football.
“It’s not easy to leave a club like this. But in life I think you have to do the right thing and the right thing means that this summer we said we’re staying and we’re spending with everything we’ve got, we’re doing the last thing. Dance’, we’re making it a genuine ending,” Lijnders said in an interview with the Liverpool club’s website.
“Not knowing that it would be that season but knowing that the project is coming to an end. I felt that with the back-up of the ownership, signing the right players, we are just going back to basics.”
Lijnders, who joined the club in 2014 as youth coach, took charge of the first team following Klopp’s appointment the following year and played a key role in the youth squad’s progression, adding Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Dutch coach left Liverpool at the start of 2018 to take charge of NEC Nijmegen, but after a brief five-month stint in the Netherlands, Klopp offered him a major role on his team’s stage and brought him back to the club. Since then, Liverpool have won six trophies, adding the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following year.
“I think he’s [Klopp] a friend, a brother, a real footballer’s brother. We’ve been through a lot here: good times and bad. I have general confidence, we completely accept it among ourselves, which is why it works,” he said.
“He gives me the freedom to lead the team, design the training, make tactical decisions, that says it all, right?It’s sad that we’re leaving, but I’m excited for what’s in store for us. “
Lijnders, who replaces Klopp in press conferences, has declared himself fit to take the next step in his career after leaving Liverpool.
“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,” he said.
“I hope to be able to transmit the same feelings and joy to the fans in the future, to the new club. It’s actually a natural progression, the way we’ve run this club over the last few years, so it’s really cool. And I can’t wait to get started. “