Liverpool assistant manager, Pep Lijnders has confirmed that current Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta approached him in 2019 to become his assistant at the club.
Lijnders, who has been at Liverpool since 2014 when he joined from Porto had a brief spell at NEC Nijmegen in 2018 before returning to Liverpool the same year.
He was together with Mikel Arteta years earlier when they both took the Pro Licence course and they have keep a close relationship since then while they serve as assistance to the two biggest rivals in the league.
Pep Lijnders said: “Mikel Arteta had asked me to be his assistant manager when he was preparing for his new step into management. We were together years earlier on the Pro Licence course. His request came out of nothing.”
Lijnders was part of the Liverpool side that ended their 30 years wait for a Premier League crown while Mikel Arteta had been with Pep Guardiola since 2016 when the Spaniard arrived at Manchester City from Bayern Munich.
Arteta served under Pep till he left for Arsenal in 2019 and wants to built a chemistry with a combination of the best managers in the league at Arsenal.
Lijnders continued: “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.”
“I politely said no to him. A few months later, we won the title for the first time in 30 years.” he added.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
