The highly-regarded Dutchman left the Reds at the start of the year to take his first job as a first-team manager at Eerste Divisie outfit NEC Nijmegen.
But he ended his spell in his homeland after just five months following NEC’s failure to earn promotion to the Eredivisie, the 35-year-old guiding the club to third before a second-round play-off defeat to Emmen.
NEC’s sporting director said of the decision that Lijnders took over in “very difficult circumstances” and admitted that the “adventure” the two parties took on “did not work out.”
But Lijnders has now returned to Anfield, where he joined from Porto in 2014 and operated as under-16s manager under Klopp’s predecessor Brendan Rodgers.
After Klopp came in, Lijnders switched to become first-team development coach and oversaw the progress of the Merseyside outfit’s brightest prospects as part of his role.
A statement on the official Liverpool website last night read: “Liverpool FC can confirm that Pepijn Lijnders has returned to take up a role in the club’s first-team coaching setup.
“The Dutchman brought a three-and-a-half-season stay at Anfield to an end in January as he took up the managerial reins of NEC in his homeland.
“However, following his departure, Lijnders has agreed to rejoin Jurgen Klopp’s backroom staff in a senior capacity.”
Lijnders’ return comes at a time where assistant manager Zeljko Buvac remains away from the club due to apparent personal reasons.
Liverpool insist the Bosnian – who some have suggested fell out with Klopp despite a 17-year working relationship across stays with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before England – remains a member of the backroom team.
Reports from the Liverpool Echo suggest that Lijnders’ appointment has no impact on Buvac’s situation – although it will be a boost to Klopp given the uncertainty over his long-time assistant’s future.
Klopp said at the turn of the year that he was “gutted” to lose “such a valuable member” of the coaching staff in Lijnders.
Reports suggest that the German boss remains hopeful of having Buvac return to the set-up too, having worked without him since before their Champions League semi-final second-leg with Roma in early May.