New job confirmed for Jurgen Klopp's no.2
Klopp and Pepijn Lijnders are both leaving Liverpool this summer.
Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders has been confirmed as the new head coach of Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano via X.com on Wednesday, the 41-year-old Dutchman will take the reigns at Red Bull Arena this summer after signing a contract until June 2027.
Romano wrote: “Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders has signed today as new RB Salzburg manager.
“Contract valid until June 2027, he’s set to leave Liverpool and start his own career as head coach.”
Romano also posted a photograph of Lijnders posing with two RB Salzburg officials at his new club’s 30,000-capacity stadium.
Lijnders has been Jurgen Klopp’s no.2 at Anfield since June 2018, but he first joined Liverpool back in 2014.
He left the Reds in January 2018 for a brief spell in charge of NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands but was sacked five months later following a defeat in the Eerste Divisie playoffs.
Since returning to Liverpool in June 2018, Lijnders has been a key member of Klopp’s coaching team that has delivered seven different trophies, including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup.
RB Salzburg have been champions of Austria in each of the past 10 seasons.
However, Sturm Graz will win the Austrian Bundesliga title this season if they beat SK Austria Klagenfurt at home on Sunday.
A second-place finish would see RB Salzburg enter next season’s UEFA Champions League in the qualifying rounds.
RB Salzburg’s Champions League journey in the 2023/24 campaign ended in the group stage after finishing fourth in Group D behind Benfica, Inter Milan and Real Sociedad.
They fared slightly better in the 2022/23 season by finishing third, above Dinamo Zagreb, in a group that also included Chelsea and AC Milan. But that was followed by a 2-1 aggregate defeat by Roma in the UEFA Europa League’s round of 16.