Former Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld has advised manager Arne Slot not to add Steven Gerrard to his backroom team and instead look for a reunion with Marino Pusic.
[FC Update have an interview](https://www.fcupdate.nl/voetbalnieuws/2025/06/liverpool-nieuws-interview-sander-westerveld-niet-gerrard-maar-pusic-ideale-vervanger-heitinga-in-staf-arne-slot) with the former Liverpool goalkeeper today in which he offers his advice to the Liverpool manager.
Slot is on the hunt for a new assistant manager this summer after Johnny Heitinga left to take charge of Ajax.
The Dutchman had been part of an extended team that Slot brought in with him last summer when he replaced Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield dugout, alongside Sipke Hulshoff and Head of Performance Ruben Peeters.
He had also wanted to take Etiënne Reijnen with him, but the Feyenoord assistant could not get a work permit, leading to Heitinga’s eventual arrival. Now there’s a space to fill following his departure and names such as Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt, Pusic and Reijnen have been mentioned.
Westerveld, though, thinks it would be unwise to look at a former Liverpool legend like Gerrard for the role.
“I think that at the moment, with all due respect, Arne is number one and Sipke is number two,” he said.
“Then there will actually be a kind of number three. Slot will never say that, he will say that they are all one team. But then with Gerrard you have a name within the group that goes around the world, but perhaps also unintentionally attracts too much attention.”
Instead, he believes Pusic makes the most sense. He left Feyenoord in October 2023 to become a manager himself, but the Ukrainian side recently announced his departure.
That could pave the way for a reunion to Liverpool and Westerveld believes he is the perfect candidate for the role.
“When I saw how Slot and Pusic worked together at Feyenoord, I think he is the perfect candidate. But I don’t have to tell him that, he can decide for himself,” he added.