24 January 2024 , 07:30
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Pep Lijnders has every reason to celebrate his 41st birthday on Wednesday. Not only has he received thoughtful presents from his wife, life at Liverpool is going perfectly.
This year will mark a decade since Lijnders first arrived at Liverpool and he spent 12 months at the Academy before becoming Brendan Rodgers’ No 2 in 2015. He survived Rodgers’ sacking in October 2015 and prospered under Jurgen Klopp, eventually becoming his No 2.
With Klopp under contract at Liverpool until 2026 when he turns 59, Lijnders is very much the Reds’ next manager-in-waiting. He would be the continuity candidate and, but for six months back in his native Holland as NEC Nijmegen coach in 2018, he has clocked up even longer at Anfield than Klopp.
But football has changed hugely since the days of the bootroom when Liverpool appointed from within between 1959 and 1991. Roy Evans’ time as manager between 1994 and 1998 proved that No 2s don’t always become successful No 1s. Lijnders hardly pulled up many trees in his one stint as a manager at NEC and he lasted just six months when he failed to win them promotion back to the Eredivisie.
Instead Liverpool may look for the candidate who offers the right blend of success with knowledge of the club. Steven Gerrard was this candidate for several years and his coaching career progressed well at Liverpool and Rangers. He cut his teeth with Liverpool’s youth sides before landing Rangers their first title in a decade in 2021.
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Lijnders is highly regarded by Klopp and the Liverpool players (Getty Images)Gerrard made the next step by returning to the Premier League at Aston Villa and initially did well before it all came crashing down in the autumn of 2022. Managers look bad if their successors do well and Unai Emery has more than done well. He has turned Villa Park into a fortress and made Villa Champions League contenders. Gerrard was lured to Saudi Arabia and recently signed a contract extension with Al-Ettifaq until 2027.
The lifelong Red would come back to Anfield in a heartbeat, but that ship may have sailed. Instead the leading candidate outside Anfield is Xabi Alonso and he has performed miracles at Bayer Leverkusen.
Xabi Alonsi is turning heads with Bayer Leverkusen (Getty Images)They were next to bottom of the Bundesliga when he took over in October 2022 and he led them to the Europa League semi-finals. This season Leverkusen have been nothing short of spectacular and they top the Bundesliga by seven points and are unbeaten. They have banged in 50 goals in their 18 Bundesliga games and are the form team in Germany.
Crucially, Alonso gets Merseyside and few foreigners, if any, understand the club and the city like he does. The Spaniard left for Real Madrid in 2009 after five successful years at Liverpool, crowned by the 2005 Champions League, and he handled his departures with grace.
Alonso ticks every box when it comes to Liverpool’s next manager and he is the complete package. The only problem is Klopp is in no hurry to go anywhere, although he still has this dream of managing Germany before he retires. That chance may come at Euro 2028, but a lot of water will flow under the Runcorn Bridge over the Mersey before then.