Former Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders could return to coaching with a job in the Championship, but he is interviewing against two ex-Reds coaches.
Lijnders has been out of work since December, following the end of a brief, disappointing spell as head coach of Red Bull Salzburg.
Though undoubtedly successful during his long time at Liverpool, the Dutchman’s attempts to go it alone have so far failed, with his only other stint as head coach of NEC Nijmegen lasting four-and-a-half months in 2018.
But his portfolio from working alongside Jurgen Klopp at Anfield is still attractive to employers – and Lijnders will now interview for a job in England.
According to the Telegraph‘s John Percy and The Athletic‘s James Pearce, the 42-year-old is in the running for the vacant job at Norwich.
Johannes Hoff Thorup was relieved of his duties last month and interim head coach Jack Wilshere has since left the club having been informed of plans for an external hire.
Lijnders will hold talks with Norwich later this week, with Percy reporting that both Steve Cooper and Gary O’Neil are also being considered.
That presents an interesting scenario in which three coaches who all cut their teeth working in Liverpool’s academy are all vying for the same leading role.
Cooper – who is “regarded as unlikely” to take over at Carrow Road – worked in various coaching roles at Kirkby between 2008 and 2013, before eventually moving into senior management with Swansea, Nottingham Forest and Leicester.
Meanwhile O’Neil, a former Norwich player and considered one of the front-runners for the job, spent five months as Liverpool U23s assistant prior to joining Bournemouth in 2021.
While it remains to be seen if he will be offered the role, Lijnders would likely jump at the chance of coaching in England again.
He would almost certainly do so without his No. 2 at Salzburg, former Liverpool elite development coach Vitor Matos, with the Portuguese inclined to step into a head coach role himself.
Norwich finished 13th in this season’s Championship having reached the playoffs in the previous campaign.
Their last season in the Premier League came in 2021/22, when they failed to build on winning the Championship as they finished 20th and were relegated by the end of April.
