Feyenoord has seemingly confirmed that Etienne Reijnen will be leaving the club this summer, after Liverpool was linked with bringing him in to work alongside Arne Slot again
12:14, 17 May 2026
Feyenoord assistant coach Etienne Reijnen.
Feyenoord assistant coach Etienne Reijnen.(Image: Hans van der Valk/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Feyenoord technical director Dennis te Kloese has seemingly confirmed that Etienne Reijnen will be leaving the club in the summer to work "abroad".
The 39-year-old was someone that Arne Slot wanted to bring to Liverpool when he moved to England, only for work permit issues to prevent him from joining the Reds' coaching staff. He is currently number two to Robin van Persie in the Netherlands, but reports there have suggested for some time that he may soon have met the required elements to make the move to Anfield.
"Reijnen is simply a very talented young coach," Te Kloese told ESPN. "He doesn't just go abroad to work for no reason."
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Reijnen briefly played with Slot at the Dutch side PEC Zwolle for two years. He was appointed by the now Liverpool boss during his time at Feyenoord.
"I thought about it carefully," Slot said at the time. "Ultimately, I considered it an important criterion that if you bring someone in the middle of the season, you already know that person well.
"You don't want to have to get to know someone completely in the middle of the season."
Robin van Persie and Etienne Reijnen
Reijnen is currently working under Van Persie
Slot spoke about the chances of Liverpool adding to its backroom team a few weeks ago when fresh links with Reijnen first surfaced.
"I think we all know that we lost a member of staff during the season," Slot said, referring to Aaron Briggs, who departed in December, when he was asked about the possibility of someone else coming in this summer.
"We parted ways so it makes complete sense at this club, if someone is leaving a department, that you are looking at a replacement.
"In general, for a club, it makes sense not only to look at player-wise but also staff-wise.
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"We are always keeping our eyes open to improve the club and that means it could be a player but also a staff. We always look around to see how we can strengthen."
Liverpool.com says: Getting this summer right will be vital for the Reds, whether that means bringing in an addition to the coaching team, changing the style of play, as Mohamed Salah suggested yesterday, or whatever else.
Transfers will be the biggest determinant in what happens next, while there is a clear need to improve the defensive set-up and the overall structure of the Liverpool team. There is plenty of work that needs to be done.