We want a ‘Last Dance’ ending at Liverpool – Klopp assistant،
Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders called on the club to bring down the curtain on the Jurgen Klopp era with a 'last dance' and added that the group of coaches initially felt their time at the club touched on its end last summer.
The Merseyside club confirmed last week that Lijnders and fellow assistant coaches Peter Krawietz and Vitor Matos would join Klopp in leaving 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 in particular and the role he played in implementing Liverpool's style of football.
“It's not easy to leave such a club. But in life I think you always have to do the right thing and the right thing means that this summer we said we're continuing and we're going with it. “Everything we have, we make it the last one. Dance', we make it a real end,” Lijnders said in an interview with the Liverpool club website.
“I didn't know it was going to be that season, but knowing that the draft was coming to an end. I felt that with the support of ownership and signing the right players, we were just getting back to basics. “
Lijnders, who joined the club in 2014 as youth academy coach, became involved with the first team following Klopp's appointment the following year and played a key role in the graduates' development from the academy, including Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Dutch coach left Liverpool at the start of 2018 to take over at NEC Nijmegen, but after a brief five-month stay in the Netherlands, Klopp offered him a senior role in his backroom team and brought him back to the club. Since then, Liverpool have won six trophies, including the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following year.
“He is [Klopp] a friend, a brother, a real footballer's brother I think. We've been through a lot here: good times and bad. I have complete trust, we trust each other fully, that’s why it works,” he said.
“The way he gives me the freedom to lead the team, to design the training, to make tactical decisions, that says it all, right? It's sad that we're leaving but I'm excited. [for] what awaits us.”
Lijnders, who often replaces Klopp at press conferences, has declared himself ready to take the next step in his career after leaving Liverpool.
“I always said I would finish Jurgen; the moment I don't help anyone else, that's when I'll go and deal with it. It's always been the case. So when we talked, it was clear to me: OK, then I'm going to manage, and we'll finish this project together [that] we have started,” he said.
“I hope I can give the same emotions and the same joy to the fans in the future, at the new club. I really believe it's a natural progression, the way we have run this club over the last few years, so it's is really cool and I can't wait to get started.”
