Liverpool have been searching for the right coaches to build Arne Slot’s backroom team.
The Reds have been going through something of a transitional phase this summer, after Jurgen Klopp ended his storied tenure as manager.
Not only did Klopp leave some almighty shoes for the new head coach to fill, but he also took plenty of his coaching staff with him.
With key positions needing to be filled, Liverpool had work to do. In came new assistant Sipke Hulshoff, goalkeeping coach Fabian Otte and head of conditioning Ruben Peeters.
That still left a couple of positions to be designated at Anfield, though. Aaron Briggs has since arrived as first-team individual development coach. And now, it looks like Slot’s team is about to be completed.
Liverpool set to appoint John Heitinga
Slot and the Reds have done well to get all the key positions filled this summer. After Feyenoord blocked Liverpool from taking more coaches from them, creativity was needed.
By the sounds of things, the Reds have made some really interested appointments.
Otte has been hailed as an ‘amazing’ goalkeeping coach, while Peeters has been labelled ‘unique‘ in his role of preparing the players from a fitness point of view.
With all of these specialists though, Liverpool still looked a little light in the pure coaching department.
Slot himself is evidently more hands-on than Klopp was, while Hulshoff is a coach of plenty of experience, too. But it did look like the head coach might need something else, too.
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In our opinion, Liverpool should have hired Dirk Kuyt to be on the team. The former Reds striker is a manager of burgeoning repute and knows the club inside out.
However, Liverpool have actually decided to go for one of Kuyt’s Netherlands teammates in the 2010 World Cup final: John Heitinga.
According to The Times, Liverpool are now ‘close to confirming’ that Heitinga has joined Slot’s team as first-team coach.
Slot was reportedly looking for a trainer with Premier League experience, and having spent last season with West Ham, the 40-year-old ‘fitted the bill’
Who is John Heitinga?
Liverpool fans may need a little persuading to warm up to Heitinga. Not only was the former centre-back a feisty character in his playing days, but he was also an Everton player of some repute.
Heitinga played for the Toffees for four-and-a-half years between 2009 and 2014, making 140 appearances.
It was during his time with Everton that Heitinga started that World Cup final alongside Kuyt in 2010.
Start the game he may have done, but the former Atletico Madrid, Fulham, Ajax and Hertha Berlin man did not finish it. During an extremely bad tempered game against Spain, Heitinga was sent off in the 109th minute for a second bookable offence.
The man he fouled to pick up that second yellow card – Andres Iniesta – went on to win the cup for Spain just seven minutes later. Ouch. Anyway, Heitinga sounds like a promising coach, so let’s get behind him.
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