Liverpool's Lijnders appointed Head Coach of Red Bull Salzburg
Lijnders (centre) with Red Bull Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter (left) and Sporting Director Bernhard Seonbuchner (right)
Written by Training Ground Guru — May 16, 2024
Pepijn Lijnders has been appointed Head Coach of Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg and will take Vitor Matos with him from Liverpool as his Assistant.
Dutchman Lijnders arrived at Liverpool in 2014 as Under-16s Coach, before stepping up to become First-Team Development Coach in 2015. He initially worked under Brendan Rodgers and remained with the senior set-up following the appointment of Jürgen Klopp as manager later that year.
After a brief spell in charge of NEC Nijmegen in his homeland, Lijnders returned to Liverpool as Assistant Manager ahead of the 2018/19 campaign. Since then, the Reds have lifted seven major honours, including the Premier League and Champions League.
"This is a real privilege for me,” Lijnders said. “After PSV Eindhoven, Porto and Liverpool, I am now moving to another exceptional club with a really good structure and a particular focus on youth development.
"I want to develop a mentality with the team that places a lot of emphasis on attacking style of play and where passion and hunger for success are the basis of everything.
"Together with my assistant coach Vitor Matos and the entire support team, we will do our best to help the club continue to grow in an ever-changing football world.
"My family has visited the city before and was overwhelmed by its beauty and the friendliness of the people. That was the last and important step for me in choosing Red Bull Salzburg."
Speaking on the TGG Podcast last year (which you can listen to below), Lijnders had admitted his ambition was to become a manager.
“I said before - I only want to assist Jurgen,” he said. “After that, I go for myself.”
Asked about the most memorable games during his time at Anfield he said: “Chelsea, League Cup final (May 2022), penalty shoot-out. That moment we won it, because I have more responsibility for the League Cup. The Barca game (May 2019) - madness. So cool that we achieved that.”
Matos joined Liverpool Porto in October 2019 in a role previously filled by Lijnders, acting as a link between the Academy and senior team.
Lijnders and Matos are among several members of Liverpool’s backroom team who will be departing the club alongside Klopp after Sunday's season finale against Wolves.
The others are Goalkeeper Coach John Achterberg and Assistant Peter Krawietz.
