During the German’s farewell address to the fans at Anfield after his final game in charge recently, he led supporters in a chant of Arne Slot’s name a day before the 45-year-old was formally named as the Reds’ new head coach.
The LFC captain now appears to have effectively confirmed that Sipke Hulshoff will be the ex-Feyenoord man’s assistant, having left his role with Netherlands ahead of their Euro 2024 training camp.
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During an interview with NOS, Van Dijk said: “I am very happy for [Slot] and his family, and also for Sipke of course, despite the fact that he will not be here [at the Oranje camp].”
Liverpol haven’t formally announced the 49-year-old as assistant manager, but similar to how Klopp technically jumped the gun during his Anfield farewell speech, it now seems inevitable that Hulshoff will be part of the Reds’ backroom team from the start of next season.
As per Ben Jacobs, it’s understood that Liverpool wanted to avoid the prospect of crossover between Hulshoff being with Netherlands if they get to the latter stages of Euro 2024, and the start of the Reds’ pre-season preparations in early July.
It’s not impossible for the 49-year-old to double up – Napoli boss Francesco Calzona is simultaneously in charge of the Slovakia national team, who are also heading to the European finals in Germany next month – but it’s obviously preferable not to have such a conflict of interest.
It should only be to LFC’s benefit that Slot’s assistant from his time at Feyenoord is now clear to join him at Anfield without having to divide his time and attention between two jobs, with the new head coach set to officially begin in the role from Saturday.
It now seems that we’re simply awaiting a formal announcement from Liverpool that Hulshoff will fill the assistant manager vacancy left by Pep Lijnders, and hopefully he and the new boss will enjoy as much success with the Reds as they had in Rotterdam over the past three years.
