A long-standing Premier League manager has been unexpectedly dismissed!

Former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has been let go by RB Salzburg after only seven months in charge.

Lijnders, who joined the Austrian side alongside former Reds coach Vitor Matos following Jurgen Klopp’s exit, was dismissed with Salzburg trailing by 10 points in the league.

Even after securing a 3-0 victory over SK Austria Klagenfurt on Saturday, the club stated that “unsatisfactory performances” were the primary reason for Lijnders’ departure.

During his time with the team, the 41-year-old utilized his Liverpool connections to secure the permanent signing of Bobby Clark and a loan deal for Stefan Bajčetić.

Jurgen Klopp, who will take over as Red Bull’s head of global soccer in January, now witnesses his former assistant being fired just weeks before his own return to coaching.

Salzburg’s decision to part ways with Lijnders and Matos comes as the Austrian Bundesliga enters its winter break, with only 16 league matches played under their leadership.

In a joint statement, CEO Stephan Reiter and Sporting Director Rouven Schröder said:

“We recently began a planned review of what has been a disappointing season so far. It became evident that our performances in many matches have fallen short of expectations.

We concluded that the team requires a fresh impulse under new leadership, despite hoping for improvement until the very end.

“We thank Pep for his dedication and passion, as well as the contributions he made to our development.

We are now actively searching for a new coach and will announce our decision soon. Our goal is to have the new coach in place when training resumes on January 3, 2025.”