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Former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has been sacked by RB Salzburg following a disappointing spell as head coach of the Austrian side.
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The 41-year-old joined Salzburg in the summer after nine years at Anfield, where he served as an assistant, first to Brendan Rodgers and then to Jürgen Klopp.
During his time at Liverpool, Lijnders helped the club win both the Premier League and Champions League, but his time at the Red Bull Arena has been challenging. The 17-time Austrian champions are fifth in the AustrianBundesliga, 10 points off league leaders SK Sturm Graz.
Salzburg have also struggled for form in the Champions League this season and are 32nd in the 36-team league, with just one win from their six European games.
The club confirmed his departure on Monday, with the decision coming just weeks before Lijnders' former colleague and close friend Klopp is set to take up his position as Red Bull's head of global soccer.
In a joint statement, Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and Managing Director of Sport Rouven Schröder, said: "We began recently to analyse, as planned, what has unfortunately not been a satisfactory season so far. It was clear to see that in many of our matches we have been far short of our own requirements and aims.
Pep Lijnders joined RB Salzburg in the summer but is leaving after a difficult start to the season. KERSTIN JOENSSON/AFP via Getty Images
"We have therefore become convinced that our team needs a new impulse under new management, even if we continued to hope for a turnaround until the end. We would like to thank Pep for his work. He put a lot of effort and passion into it and has provided important momentum for our further development.
"We are now very intensively looking for a new coach and will communicate as soon as a decision is made. We clearly want to start training again on 3 January 2025 with our new coach in place."
In 2018, Lijnders briefly left Liverpool to become manager of NEC in the Dutch second tier, however he returned to Merseyside later that year after failing to win promotion to the Eredivisie.