Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he is pleased to welcome Pepijn Lijnders back to the club, describing his return as “really important.”
Lijnders, who left his post as first-team development coach to manage NEC Nijmegen in January, returned last month in a “senior capacity” as part of Klopp’s backroom staff.
The 35-year-old was dismissed by NEC in May after failing to achieve promotion to the Eredivisie, but Klopp feels he returns to Merseyside with greater experience.
“It’s good. It’s very, very good. We sent him away for half a year to get very important experience and to have him back now feels just fantastic,” he told Liverpool’s website.
“When he came in the building, everybody was really delighted about that. He’s a fantastic person and a fantastic coach, so it’s really important that we have him back and I’m really looking forward to working together with him.”
Assistant manager Zeljko Buvac has been absent at the start of Liverpool’s preseason work.
Buvac’s situation remains unresolved after Liverpool confirmed in April that he would be spending time away from the club for personal reasons.
Meanwhile, the 26 Liverpool players not on international duty reported to Melwood on Monday after the summer break, with Andrew Robertson taking part in his first full preseason as a Liverpool player.
The left-back completed his transfer from Hull midway through last summer, meaning he missed out on the preseason tour to Hong Kong.
“I think I did the first three weeks with Hull so it was a lot different — it’s always good to get a full preseason with the team you’re going to be with,” he said.
“Over the close season I’ve been working on getting fit and now I want to get fitter until August and it’s all leading up to that West Ham game [on the opening weekend] now.”
Glenn is ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter: @GlennPrice94.
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