Etienne Reijnen wants Liverpool move
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Image Credits: Imago ImagesLiverpool’s summer rebuild is taking shape, and much of it is happening quietly, away from the transfer headlines and the noise surrounding players.While the fanbase debates signings and scrutinises Arne Slot’s future, the Dutchman has been methodically constructing the backroom infrastructure he believes can restore Liverpool to where they were just twelve months ago.The first piece of that infrastructure is nearly in place.It has been a turbulent second season at Anfield for Slot.A Premier League title defence that collapsed entirely, a fifth-place finish, a Champions League quarter-final exit at the hands of PSG, and a very public deterioration in the relationship with Mohamed Salah, all of it has generated serious noise about his future.Some called for his head.Others pointed to the previous season’s title as proof that the foundations remain sound.Liverpool, it appears, have sided with the latter view.Rather than planning for a managerial change, the club are investing in Slot’s staff, and the most significant addition being discussed is a familiar face from Rotterdam.Journalist Mikos Gouka, speaking on FC Rijnmond via FR 12, has now confirmed what has been building for several weeks.Etienne Reijnen wants the move to Liverpool, provided Feyenoord grant him permission to leave.“Etiënne Reijnen wants to move to Liverpool,” Gouka stated plainly, “if he receives permission to do so.”Reijnen is 39 years old, a former centre-back who spent the bulk of a 15-year playing career in the Eredivisie before retiring in 2020 and pivoting almost immediately into coaching.He worked his way through scouting and assistant roles at PEC Zwolle, the club where he and Slot first met as teammates in 2010, before joining Feyenoord’s coaching staff in November 2023.His reputation there was built primarily around set pieces and tactical analysis, two areas where Liverpool have visibly struggled this season.Slot had already tried to bring him to Merseyside when he first took the Liverpool job in 2024.That move collapsed when Reijnen could not secure a UK work permit, lacking the required coaching badges at the time.He has since been completing his UEFA A Licence, and Feyenoord’s general manager Dennis te Kloese has been notably candid about the situation.“He isn’t just going to go abroad for no reason,” te Kloese said, an acknowledgement dressed as understatement.Current assistant Giovanni van Bronckhorst is reportedly expected to step away from Anfield this summer, with a role back at Feyenoord being discussed.That departure would create the opening Slot has been waiting for.Everything is aligned.The relationship is long-standing, the timing is right, and crucially, Reijnen himself is said to want this.For a manager whose authority has been questioned all season, having the coach he actually wanted beside him from the beginning carries more weight than any transfer announcement.This is Slot drawing his own line in the sand.