Ipswich Town
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Liverpool’s backroom department has undergone a significant reshuffle ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has joined Arne Slot’s coaching team as assistant coach, bringing Eredivisie and Europa League pedigree after title-winning spells at Feyenoord and Rangers.
He is the replacement for John Heitinga, who departed at the end of May to become the manager of Ajax.
Xavi Valero also returns as head of first-team goalkeeper coaching, reprising his role under Rafael Benitez following seven years at West Ham United
Meanwhile, Fabian Otte and Claudio Taffarel have departed, with Otte taking up a role at Tottenham under Thomas Frank.
Amid this overhaul, Ipswich Town’s long-serving director of football operations, Gary Probert, has left Portman Road to take up a yet-to-be-confirmed role at Liverpool.
This is according to Ipswich-centric outlet “This Is The Town”, a popular website that serves fans of the Tractor Boys.
Probert joined the Suffolk side in November 2021, overseeing recruitment, academy development, analysis, the U21s and the loans programme.
Probert holds a BSc in Sports Coaching, a UEFA A Licence and an FA Advanced Youth Award.
The director recently graduated from the FA’s Technical Directors Course in May 2025.
Before his role at Ipswich, he spent seven years as an FA Licensed Tutor at the FA, developing coaches nationwide, and served as County Development Manager at Gloucestershire FA, leading grassroots programmes from 2007 to 2013.
His earliest roles included Youth Development and FE Academy Manager at Forest Green Rovers between 2005 and 2007.
It’s clear that the winds of change are sweeping through the red side of Merseyside this summer, with plenty of staff members going through the relvoving door.
His new role at Liverpool was not mentioned, and it remains to be officially confirmed by either club at the time of writing.
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