Skip to main content

Liverpool fans have expressed their excitement on social media over the return of hugely popular first-team coach Pepijn Lijnders.

The 35-year-old Dutchman had spent three-and-a-half seasons at Anfield as a coach before departing at the beginning of this year to become head coach at NEC Nijmegen in his native country.

However, Lijnders departed NEC after just five months at the helm, despite guiding the club to a third-place finish in the second-tier Eerste Divisie and securing a playoff spot.

NEC lost the playoff 5-4 on aggregate to seventh-place Emmen in the second round.

Swiftly after his departure from the Dutch side, Liverpool announced his return to Merseyside as a senior member of Jurgen Klopp's backroom staff.

Many supporters have expressed their appreciation over the news, with some going so far as to call it the signing of the summer - though with Liverpool having already completed some impressive business this window, it remains to be seen if those remarks were entirely serious.

It is understood that Lijnders' appointment will not have an impact on whether assistant manager Zeljko Buvac will return to his role at the Anfield club, according to Sky Sports.

The Bosnian left the club midway through the season, with Liverpool's official line being that Buvac simply left until the end of the season due to personal reasons and would be back in due course.

However, with reports alleging a bust-up between manager and assistant being the reasoning, it remains to be seen whether Buvac will return to Klopp's backroom staff next season.