Former Everton assistant manager Luis Boa Morte once nearly joined Liverpool during his playing days
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Luis Boa Morte (L) of Everton in the dugout prior to the Premier League match between Everton FC and West Ham United at Goodison Park
Luis Boa Morte (L) of Everton in the dugout prior to the Premier League match between Everton FC and West Ham United at Goodison Park
(Image: Photo by Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United FC via Getty Images)
John Heitinga will make his first return to Goodison Park as Liverpool employee on Saturday as Arne Slot’s men take on Everton in the first Merseyside derby of the season. The former Netherlands international joined the Reds as assistant coach in the summer, after leaving West Ham United at the end of last season.
A former Everton player, Heitinga made 140 appearances for the Blues during four and a half years at Goodison Park during his playing days. Consequently, Slot has admitted that he had to ask whether the player’s previous allegiances would be a problem before adding him to his own backroom team.
Heitinga isn’t the only former player to cross the Merseyside divide from player to coach, with Liverpool legend Sammy Lee previously serving as Sam Allardyce’s assistant manager at Everton. Such a switch did not prove to be particularly popular on either half of Merseyside.
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Were it not for Rafa Benitez, who infamously managed both Liverpool and Everton, the Blues could have actually seen another former Reds player serve as their assistant manager.
Luis Boa Morte served as Marco Silva’s number two at Goodison between June and December 2019, only to lose his job alongside his compatriot after a 5-2 thrashing at Anfield. While the former Portugal international has no Liverpool allegiances, he did once come close to signing for the Reds during Benitez’s time in charge at Anfield.
The Portuguese revealed to O Jogo last summer that the Reds were ultimately priced out of a move for the winger in the summer of 2005. The then-27-year-old would have only cost £6m from Fulham, but the newly-crowned European champions instead opted to sign Bolo Zenden - who is coincidentally the brother-in-law of Heitinga - on a free transfer.
“There was the option of Liverpool,” Boa Morte admitted, as quoted by Sport Witness. “But, as I still had a contract and was going to cost around six million, they preferred Zenden, who at the time was a free player.”
Boa Morte had recorded two goals and an assist against the Reds for Fulham in the 2004/05 season, to help attract the interest of Benitez, as Liverpool won 4-2 at Craven Cottage and 3-1 at Anfield. The Portuguese would then be on the scoresheet in a 2-0 win for the Cottagers the following season after being snubbed by the Spaniard.
The former winger eventually left Fulham to sign for West Ham United in a £5m deal in January 2007. Boa Morte is now the manager of Guinea-Bissau, having left his position as Silva’s number two with the Cottagers at the end of last season.