Jurgen Klopp’s right-hand man at Liverpool, Pep Ljinders, has revealed that he came close to joining Manchester United in 2013.
The Reds assistant had been wanted by Sir Alex Ferguson and then-No.2 Rene Meulensteen nearly a decade ago but the former’s retirement months later scuppered the opportunity.
Ljinders instead arrived at Anfield for the 2014/15 season and worked with the Under-16s while Brendan Rodgers was in charge. The now-Leicester boss took an interest in the work he was doing with the youth team and was subsequently asked onto the first-team coaching staff in his second year.
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Rodgers was sacked in October 2015 but Ljinders retained his job amid the arrival of Jurgen Klopp and the pair formed a close bond. Explaining how close he came to instead representing the red of Manchester, Ljinders told FourFourTwo: "I had been at the academy of Porto since 2007 and had started to think about a next step.
"[In 2013] I received an approach from Manchester United – Alex Ferguson and his Dutch assistant Rene Meulensteen wanted to bring me to the club. It looked really good, but a few months later Ferguson retired and the opportunity fell through."
He added: "One year later, Liverpool showed an interest and I became their under-16s coach. After a while I began to speak with Brendan Rodgers, who was curious how I was implementing a 3-4-3 system in my team.
"We got on well and in my second season [2015/16] I was asked to be one of his assistants. I learned a lot from him, although he left by the October. I kept my assistant role when Jurgen Klopp came in and we’ve developed a very strong bond."
Ljinders, who left Liverpool for a brief spell with Dutch club NEC in 2018, says he has plans to go into management as a next career step. "After this project I will be my own manager," he added.
"When our contract finishes, I will sit down with my agent and see what’s available. For now, my focus is on attacking each game in front of us."
Ljinders has helped Liverpool win their maiden Premier League title, a Champions League and an FA Cup among other pieces of silverware during his nine-and-a-half season stay.
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