Former Liverpool assistant coach Pep Lijnders explains how he fought to allow Liverpool star become deputy to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders spent five years together at Liverpool, but they both only had a serious disagreement very few times.
One of such instances was concerning a young Northern Ireland full-back who is now a first team player with the Merseyside based club.
Pep Lijnders has revealed how he wanted to keep Conor Bradley at Anfield, and how this caused an exchange between him and Jurgen Klopp during their time at Liverpool.
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Pep Lijnders details ‘fight’ over Trent’s deputy
The former Reds second in hierarchy of coaches, has revealed the disagreements that ensued concerning upgrading Conor Bradley to be a part of the first team squad.
By the start of the 2022-23 season, Lijnders was eager to make Bradley the deputy at right back for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Although Lijnders was keen to see Bradley remain at Anfield that season, Klopp thought that sending the young defender out on loan would contribute to his growth and progress at the time.
This resulted in him being loaned to Bolton Wanderers for the season. Dave Ockop tweeted on X, about Lijnders saying,
“I remember that I really fought, proper fought, for Conor to be our No. 2 behind Trent. I was really trying to keep him in the club because I believed that he would already be ready at that time.”
The former assistant to Klopp, also added, “The club makes the decision together with Jurgen to get him out on loan, and it really, really upset me a lot.”
He stressed that this was one of the few times there was a major disagreement between him and Klopp, adding that there was also an exchange of hard words in the aftermath.
That season at Bolton turned out to be key in Bradley’s development, as he went on to score 7 goals across 53 appearances, lifting the EFL Trophy and also being named the club’s player of the year for the 2022-23 season.
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