‘This was the biggest compliment I ever got from somebody’
Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has revealed that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta tried to poach him away from Jurgen Klopp and convince him to move to Arsenal.
Arteta was named Gunners boss in 2019 after leaving his role as assistant manager at Manchester City, where he worked under Pep Guardiola.
When the 40-year-old – who replaced countryman Unai Emery at the Emirates Stadium – was assembling his backroom team, he attempted to convince Lijnders, whom he had met while the pair were completing their coaching badges together on a UEFA course, to join Arsenal.
🚨 NEW: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta attempted to convince Pep Lijnders to join him as his number two. #lfc [mirror]
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) July 25, 2022
However, Lijnders rejected the offer and chose to remain at Anfield, where he has gone on to play a vital role in the Reds’ success in recent years.
“Mikel Arteta had asked me to be his assistant manager when he was preparing for his new step into management,” the Dutchman wrote in his new booked Intensity, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at Liverpool’s 2021/22 campaign.
“We were together years earlier on the Pro Licence course, [though] his request came out of nothing. Mikel had said he felt: ‘There was just a difference playing Liverpool before and after you came in’.
“This was the biggest compliment I ever got from somebody, I think, but I politely said no to him.”
Lijnders: “Imagine the assistant of Pep Guardiola and the assistant of Jurgen Klopp at Arsenal. What a crazy thought. Mikel said he felt: 'There was just a difference playing Liverpool before and after you came in.' This was the biggest compliment I ever got from somebody.”
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) July 25, 2022
Lijnders joined Liverpool in 2014 under former manager Brendan Rodgers. Prior to his move to Merseyside, he spent eight years working for FC Porto.
After initially being employed as a first-team coach, he was later promoted after Klopp’s previous assistant Zeljko Buvac left the club. Lijnders, alongside Peter Krawietz, was named as the German’s assistant manager.
The Dutchman left the reds in January 2018 after agreeing to become NEC Nijmegen’s new manager. However, his return to his homeland failed to work out as he was sacked just six months later after failing to lead the club to the Eredivisie.
He returned to Liverpool, and has been an integral part of the Merseyside club’s recent success – helping the Reds to win the UEFA Champions League, Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
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