Arne Slot’s Liverpool side are enjoying a flawless start to the new Premier League season, sitting comfortably at the top of the table during the international break. The Reds have secured three victories from their opening matches against Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Arsenal, and concluded a summer-long transfer saga with the £125m signing of Alexander Isak, making the Swedish international the priciest player in British football history.
Post-break, the fixtures will come thick and fast for the league leaders, starting with Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday. This is followed by a Champions League match against Atletico Madrid, and then Everton at Anfield for the first Merseyside derby of the season. But Liverpool are still on the lookout for new additions to their backroom staff.
Liverpool are currently recruiting for a physical performance analyst and a first-team physical performance coach as Arne Slot continues to restructure his backroom staff, reports the ECHO. Slot saw one of his two assistants, John Heitinga, depart for Ajax in the summer to take up the head coach’s role in Amsterdam. This was followed by Aaron Briggs formally taking over set-piece duties, having balanced these responsibilities alongside his other commitments during his inaugural season at the club.
Briggs has now officially taken on the role of set-piece coach at the AXA Training Centre, following the appointment of former Barcelona and Arsenal star Giovanni van Bronckhorst as Heitinga’s replacement over the summer. Luiz Fernando Iubel was also recently announced as the new individual lead coach, a role designed to bridge the gap between the Academy and the first-team ranks. The club officially confirmed the Brazilian’s appointment last week.
Liverpool’s coaching staff is set for further changes, with the club seeking to hire both a physical performance analyst and a first-team physical performance coach. The analyst will focus on areas such as sleep hygiene within the squad, monitoring training loads, and conducting subjective wellness checks every two months. Players will receive help with individual recovery sessions, and ‘testing’ will be conducted on the squad before and after training at the AXA Centre in Kirkby.
The successful applicant will also be required to provide live GPS feedback during pitch sessions, including drill sprints and analysis of movement during workouts. The GPS data will be used to inform future team and rehabilitation sessions to enhance performance. The coaching role will be tasked with providing ‘world-class support’ for a number of first-team stars and those in the Academy ranks who Liverpool believe have high potential. The role includes monitoring and refining each player’s specific performance programme as set out by the coaching staff. Physical reviews for each player in the group will also be communicated monthly, while an analysis of pre-season and in-season ‘testing’ will also be required.
Elsewhere, Curtis Jones was one of the few who reported for duty at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday as the non-international contingent begin to focus on the return of the Premier League this weekend. Jones played a crucial role off the bench in last Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Anfield but was overlooked for the Three Lions’ squad by new manager Thomas Tuchel, who gave AC Milan’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek his first call-up for six years for their matches with Andorra and Serbia.
Consequently, Jones reported for duty at the Kirkby base on Tuesday for a session as the Reds start to look ahead to Sunday’s trip to Burnley. With Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch all in their respective international squads, Jones will be competing for a recall this weekend after a full week of uninterrupted training back on Merseyside.
With a demanding schedule of three matches in six days, Slot may utilise his full squad, potentially giving Jones the opportunity to shine at Turf Moor after a week of rigorous training. Whereas Liverpool’s captain Virgil van Dijk was honoured this week when he returned to his former club Willem II. The main stand at Sportpark Prinsenhoeve’s youth academy was officially renamed in his honour.
The Reds’ leader, who spent over ten years at the Dutch club during his early career, attended the unveiling ceremony in Tilburg, which was widely shared on social media platforms. This ‘immortalisation’, as the club termed it, coincided with the launch of the Virgil’s Legacy Trophy, an international youth tournament initiated by the 34-year-old that invites 16 youth teams from around the globe to compete in Tilburg.
“It makes me incredibly proud that the stand at the youth academy is named after me,” Van Dijk expressed. “Willem II played an important role in my life and in my development as a young player. That this is now being recognised in this way means a great deal to me and my family. It’s a very special tribute, and I appreciate the warmth and connection I still feel with the club.”
Van Dijk isn’t the only former Willem II player to have made a name for himself at Anfield. Sami Hyypia became a legend at Liverpool after playing for the Dutch side earlier in his career, while Kostas Tsimikas won every domestic trophy available in England during his five-year stint at Liverpool, having previously played in Holland on loan during the 2017-18 season. The latest addition to the Premier League, Alexander Isak, who was signed for a record-breaking £125m, had previously spent part of 2019 on loan from Borussia Dortmund. This bodes well for the Swedish forward.
This article first featured on the ECHO.