Former Everton defender reveals he is ‘in talks with Liverpool’ as his agent works on a deal

Former Everton defender John Heitinga has revealed he and his agent are “in talks with Liverpool” as Arne Slot looks to complete his backroom staff.

The Reds are set for big changes this summer after Jurgen Klopp left at the end of the season and was replaced by Feyenoord head coach Slot.

There have been other changes at Liverpool too with Michael Edwards returning as FSG’s CEO of football and Richard Hughes arriving as the club’s new sporting director from Bournemouth.

And now Slot is looking to complete his backroom team after the initial appointments of Sipke Hulshoff, Ruben Peeters and Fabian Otte to his Liverpool staff.

Speaking about the appointments, Slot said: “Of course, you want to take some people with you as well because they know who you are, they know your playing style and they can translate this to the other people in the staff as well. But if you go to a club like Liverpool, you can assume – and I already noticed that – that there are a lot of good people working here as well.

“So, we are going to use hopefully the best of both worlds to implement a few things from us and to use the knowledge that is inside this club already because of the nine years Jürgen [Klopp] and his staff worked here.

MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Liverpool ‘in pole position’ for £51m Serie A star after ‘frantic’ last-minute bid for midfielder falls through
👉 Liverpool move to hijack Man Utd for £42m top target who ‘only wants’ one club
👉 Liverpool ‘immediately started working’ on £25m after being ‘surprised’ at Euro 2024 display

“I bring in Sipke Hulshoff, who’s been my assistant for a few years now at Feyenoord. I worked with him long ago, I worked with him at Cambuur Leeuwarden as well. He was the assistant of Ronald Koeman of the Dutch national team as well, but he is going to join me now from the start. A bit older than me, I think, not so much but a bit older than me. Because we work together for such a long time, I think the both of us know exactly what we want when it comes to game model, playing style – and I think that helps.

“Then we will bring in a performance coach, Ruben Peeters, who is going to help me and the club with – how would I put this in English words? – the way we are working on the physical side. Us three have worked together at Feyenoord for three years now and we know how we want to work, which is normal.

“And then there’s a replacement in the goalkeeping staff as well – we’ve brought in Fabian Otte, who was working at Borussia Monchengladbach and is still now with the USA team at the Copa America.

“So those are the first positions we filled in and I think we are still looking for one or two other positions. Richard [Hughes] and me are calling each other a lot, not only about this but also about the positions we still have to fill in.”

And now former Everton defender Heitinga, who left his coaching role at West Ham this year, has revealed that Liverpool have “approached” him over a position in Slot’s backroom staff.

Heitinga said: “I’m in talks with Liverpool. All I can say now is that I have been approached and that my agent Rob Jansen and I are in discussions.”