With Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool, Pep Lijnders will be departing the club. There have been some suggestions he could take over from Klopp – but it is now expected he will be leaving for pastures new.
Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Ljinders, who was at Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers and then the start of Klopp’s tenure – leaving to manage Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in 2018 before returning to Anfield.
Phil Thompson has suggested that Lijnders should be entrusted to take over from Klopp at the end of the season. But it looks as if Ljinders is on his way out of Anfield, as he looks for a new job as a manager.
Pep Lijnders opens talks with new club as Liverpool exit nears
He has been linked with Ajax, but now, Sabah – as per Sport Witness – claim Lijnders has offered himself to Turkish giants Besiktas. Ex-Portugal manager Fernando Santos was sacked at the start of the week.
Indeed, it is reported that Lijnders has opened talks with Besiktas over a possible move to Turkey to replace Santos. Lijnders’ only spell in management came at Nijmegen – managing just 22 games for NEC.
Such a move would see Lijnders re-enter the world of management, six years after his previous spell. It would also see him reunite with a player he worked with at Liverpool – in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
How Oxlade-Chamberlain is getting on over at Besiktas…
The England star moved to Besiktas from Liverpool last summer on a free, with his contract expiring at Anfield in the summer of 2023. It has not gone particularly to plan with the SuperLig side, for The Ox.
Indeed, injuries have hampered his progress at Besiktas – even if he has scored four goals in 23 games for the club. He made his return on the weekend after tearing a muscle in his thigh. A reunion is on the cards.
Lijnders and Besiktas makes sense and with Oxlade-Chamberlain boasting a contract until the summer of 2026, it looks as if they could work together. It might be what they need, to get the best out of eachother.