Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool was an extremely well-documented affair, and despite being linked with multiple vacancies across European football, the German coach has chosen to take up a role as Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull from January 2025.
Whenever there is a changing of the guard, there also tends to be a sizeable reshuffle behind the scenes and several of the 57-year-old’s trusted aides also decided it was time to leave Anfield at the end of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign.
With Arne Slot keen to recruit his own team of coaches, there was always likely to be a significant turnover of personnel. Only goalkeeper coach Claudio Taffarel remained in position and is currently working under the former Feyenoord boss.
We’ve taken a closer look at the various paths that the former Reds employees have taken
Pep Lijnders
Pep Lijnders was one of the more recognisable members of Klopp’s backroom staff with the former NEC coach having returned to Merseyside ahead of the 2018-19 campaign. As assistant manager of the club, the 41-year-old played a key role in guiding the Reds to success in both the Premier League and the Champions League.
The Dutchman opted to follow Klopp out of the Anfield exit door to take up a role as head coach of Austrian Bundesliga outfit Red Bull Salzburg. The club places a significant emphasis on developing young talent, with recent graduates including current Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai and former Reds duo Naby Keita and Sadio Mané.
With their talented squad and regular appearances in elite European competitions, Salzburg were overwhelming favourites for the title this season, yet things haven’t gone according to plan for Lijnders and his team.
Sturm Graz has dominated the Austrian top flight so far, and even with the unexpected upheaval of losing manager Christian Ilzer to Hoffenheim at the beginning of November, it has still managed to open up a five-point gap at the summit. Naturally, Die Schwarz have been installed as the new favourites for success by many online betting sites, yet, despite having taken just 18 points from their opening 12 fixtures, the oddsmakers remain fairly confident that Lijnders will turn things around and still have Salzburg listed as second favourites in the outright market.
A recent system switch to a 4-2-3-1 has improved performance levels and the Salzburg hierarchy has recently reiterated its commitment to the management team.
Vitor Matos
Vitor Matos joined Pep Lijnders at Salzburg. The Portuguese admits that he still keeps a close eye on the progress of his former employers and is delighted by Arne Slot’s positive start.
He has taken up the role of assistant manager in Austria alongside former FC Liefering coach Onur Cinel. The Portuguese signed a three-year deal and will be hoping that he can be part of the team to turn things around in Wals-Siezenheim.
The pair are joined by Liverpool’s former fitness and conditioning coach Andreas Kornmayer.
John Achterberg
Unlike many of his peers, John Achterberg opted to take a different route and joined up with Steven Gerrard in Saudi Arabia. In his final press conference at Anfield, the highly-rated goalkeeper coach confirmed that he is heading off to the Middle East, ending his 15-year association with Liverpool FC.
The Dutchman, who was responsible for overseeing the development of Alisson Becker and Caoimhin Kelleher, opted to team up with the former Reds icon at Al-Ettifaq. He’s hired former Liverpool youngster Andy Firth to be part of his team and is tasked with elevating the overall standard of goalkeeping at the club.
Unfortunately, despite the presence of Moussa Dembele and Georginio Wijnaldum in the squad, things haven’t gone according to plan for Al-Ettifaq and as of mid-November, they are still languishing in lower mid-table. Steven Gerrard has hired his former assistant Michael Beale to replace the outgoing duo of Dean Holden and Mark Allen.
Jack Robinson
Jack Robinson worked as an assistant goalkeeping coach to John Achterberg for six seasons. The 36-year-old has taken up an exciting new role across the Atlantic as Head of Goalkeeping at US Soccer.
His new role will cover both the men’s and women’s national teams with Robinson tasked with engaging and inspiring the next generation of American goalkeepers. He will work under former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino and former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes as part of the new-look set-up which is aiming to kick on ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a tournament set to be co-hosted by the United States.
Andreas Schlumberger
Former head of recovery Andreas Schlumberger is the only member of Klopp’s coaching set-up who decided to completely walk away from professional sport. The former Schalke employee cut his contract short to return to his native Germany and take up a professorship in Sports Science at the BSP Business and Law School in Berlin.
Schlumberger was part of the team that was responsible for ensuring that Liverpool’s players were rested, recovered, and re-energised ahead of each match during their energy-sapping title challenges and successful Champions League runs.
