Former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has been dismissed by RB Salzburg after just seven months in charge.
Lijnders, who joined the Austrian club alongside former Reds coach Vitor Matos following Jurgen Klopp’s departure, was sacked with Salzburg sitting 10 points off the pace in the league.
Despite securing a 3-0 win over SK Austria Klagenfurt on Saturday, the club cited “unsatisfactory performances” as the main reason for Lijnders’ departure.
During his tenure, the 41-year-old leveraged his Liverpool connections to secure the permanent signing of Bobby Clark and a loan deal for Stefan Bajčetić.
Jurgen Klopp, set to take on the role of Red Bull’s head of global soccer in January, now sees his former assistant dismissed just weeks before his return to football.
Salzburg’s decision to part ways with Lijnders and Matos comes as the Austrian Bundesliga enters its winter break, with only 16 league games played under their management.
In a joint statement, CEO Stephan Reiter and Sporting Director Rouven Schröder explained:
“We recently began a planned review of what has been a disappointing season so far. It became evident that our performances in many matches have fallen short of expectations.
We concluded that the team requires a fresh impulse under new leadership, despite hoping for improvement until the very end.
“We thank Pep for his dedication and passion, as well as the contributions he made to our development.
We are now actively searching for a new coach and will announce our decision soon. Our goal is to have the new coach in place when training resumes on January 3, 2025.”
