The Klopp disciple primed to boost Guardiola's City

Some worrying news for bookshops on Merseyside. Any copies of Intensity by Pep Lijnders are likely to remain on the shelves.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Instead, they may want to store them with El Nino, the Fernando Torres autobiography that was a love story to Liverpool. But Torres joined Chelsea and now, barely a year after leaving Liverpool, Lijnders’ return to English football could come by Pep Guardiola’s side.

The supporters who branded Trent Alexander-Arnold a traitor for heading for Real Madrid – though one of their complaints has been removed now he is no longer going on a free transfer, but for €10m – may transfer their irritation to Jurgen Klopp’s sidekick should he materialise at Manchester City, the club who ensured one of the great Liverpool managers won a lone league title.

If a year away has illustrated the legacy Klopp and Lijnders left, with Arne Slot’s success reflecting well on the previous regime, it may have been chastening in other respects. Klopp’s popularity in Germany has been dented by the decision of a man who was a byword for authenticity to work for the despised Red Bull group. Lijnders, once touted as a potential successor to Klopp at Anfield, floundered in his second attempt to go it alone.

He was sacked by RB Salzburg – a couple of weeks before Klopp took up his role at their parent organisation – with the usually dominant force in Austrian football only fifth in the Bundesliga, 10 points off the lead, and having lost five of their six Champions League games. Defeats without scoring to Sparta Prague, Brest and Dinamo Zagreb were scarcely the great European nights Lijnders experienced at Liverpool.