Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has officially been announced as the new manager of RB Salzburg.
Lijnders is set to depart Liverpool after Sunday’s final game the Premier League season, ending a near decade-long association with the Reds.
The 41-year-old had initially been seen as one of the contenders to succeed Jurgen Klopp this summer. However, that doesn’t appear to have been a serious consideration. Instead, Lijnders will move to one of the most exciting talent-producers in Europe.
It’s a great step for the Dutchman and will hopefully see him properly learn his chops in the top job. Who knows, if he does well, a return to Anfield may beckon one day.
In the meantime, it would be wise for Liverpool to keep an eye on how Lijnders is getting on. He is joining the club that bore Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane amongst a whole host of other talents after all. And in among the squad he’s taking over is another burgeoning, prolific talent.
Liverpool should watch Karim Konate development
It’s fair to say that the Red Bull system is still working as well as ever. Although we may never see another Haaland coming through, there are still plenty of talents to get excited about over in Salzburg.
As we’ve seen in the past, Liverpool are also big fans of the way the Salzburg and Leipzig develop their players.
Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai and Naby Keita were all brought directly from Leipzig, with the latter two spending time at Salzburg. The Reds have form in picking up some of their best players.
With that in mind, Liverpool should now be paying careful attention to Ivorian striker Karim Konate.
Having scored 21 goals in his first full season at Salzburg, the 20-year-old has had a brilliant campaign. Already a full international with Ivory Coast, he looks set for a big future.
As a coach who has a great track record at developing young players, Lijnders will no doubt be looking forward to working with Konate. There’s every chance the young striker can go up another level under the Dutch coach’s guidance. Liverpool should be watching.
Who is Karim Konate
It’s clear that Liverpool have been lacking a clinical edge in their finishing this season. Too many of their forwards have been wasteful.
As per statistics from Fotmob, Konate is the opposite of that. The young striker has scored 19 Bundesliga goals from an xG of 18.07.
For comparison, Darwin Nunez – often seen as Liverpool’s least clinical striker – has 11 Premier League goals from an xG of 16.34. There’s a big difference.
It isn’t just this season that Konate has been showing form either. He played the majority of the 2022/23 campaign with Salzburg’s sister side FC Liefering, scoring 15 goals in just 18 appearances. No wonder the Austrian side’s former sporting director Christoph Freund is so enthused.
“Karim is for me one of the most talented and exciting players I’ve ever seen, and we know which strikers have been here,” Freund said via Sport ORF. “He’s an exceptional player and I’m almost sure he’ll have a great career ahead of him.”
With Lijnders now at the helm, Liverpool might just have got a jump on the queue. One to watch for sure.