Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has confirmed he did turn down the chance to become Mikel Arteta’s assistant at Arsenal.

Arteta was appointed as Gunners boss in December 2019, and he wanted Lijnders to help him rebuild the London club but the Dutchman said he “politely” rejected the offer:

“Mikel Arteta had asked me to be his assistant manager when he was preparing for his new step into management. We were together years earlier on the Pro Licence course. His request came out of nothing. Imagine the assistant of Pep Guardiola and the assistant of Jurgen Klopp at Arsenal. What a crazy thought. Mikel said he felt: ‘There was just a difference playing Liverpool before and after you came in.’ This was the biggest compliment I ever got from somebody. I politely said no to him. A few months later, we won the title for the first time in 30 years.”

As Lijnders says, it would have been rather interesting to see how the assistants of the two best managers in world football would have got on working together.

The fact that Lijnders stayed with the Reds, though, is not surprising. He has an excellent working relationship with Jurgen Klopp and there are even suggestions that he may replace the German in the hot seat when the current Liverpool manager eventually leaves Anfield.

Whether that will happen, it is up for debate. Lijnders has had one brief stint in management and that was an ill-fated six-month spell in charge of Dutch second-tier outfit NEC Nijmegen.