Former Liverpool coach Michael Beale believes Pepijn Lijnders has enough time on his hands to become a first-team manager and should continue to learn under the wing of Jurgen Klopp.
The Dutchman spent four years at Liverpool assisting Brendan Rodgers and Klopp before leaving the club to become the coach at NEC Nijmegen in January 2018.
However, he was sacked a few months later and he returned to Merseyside to become part of Klopp’s staff again at Liverpool.
The 37-year-old is considered a bright young coaching talent, but Beale admits that managing a team is vastly different from being a coach under Klopp.
He insisted that Lijnders must exhaust everything on the training pitch at this stage of his career before he should consider becoming a manager again and feels he does not need to rush it.
Beale said on The Athletic’s Red Agenda Podcast: “The job that young coaches like Pep and I do for Jurgen and Steven [Gerrard] is very different to actually leading a team yourself.
“When you are young, you want to be on the training pitch taking all of the training, you really want to be working hands-on with the players.
“I think you have to exhaust that first before you become a manager. Pep is at a lovely stage where he’s learning from probably the world’s best manager. He’s working at a one-in-a-million club.
“At the age of 37, I don’t think he’s in a rush. There’s no need. Do I see Pep being a manager in the next 10 years once he stops working with Jurgen? Yeah, I do.”
Lijnders will be looking to continue to soak up experience from working with Klopp, as Liverpool aim to continue being successful on the pitch.
