Jurgen Klopp has confirmed the appointment of Vitor Matos as Liverpool's elite development coach.
Matos joins from Porto - where he was assistant of the Portuguese club’s B Team last season - after a spell in China.
He will take the position previously held by current Klopp assistant Pepijn Lijnders.
The Liverpool boss said: "We’ve worked for a while on it. We had the idea that it makes real sense because we have so many outstanding, young boys.
“The situation is a little bit like this: if you are in pre-season, they are with us and we need them for training, for the games and all that stuff. But then the season starts and all the big guns come back and we don’t want to give them the feeling they are now a bit further away again.
“So we thought it made sense that they really get their specific coach again what Pep did years ago when I came in. I loved the fact I got a sensational assistant manager, but we lost the development coach a little bit."
He added: “We had to fill that void and we’ve done that with a really great guy, an outstanding coach. Young and experienced, you don’t get that a lot. A kind of guy who is used to have six or seven sessions a day.
Meet Vitor Matos - Porto coach set to join Liverpool who could be new Pep Lijnders HERE
“He is smart, his English is very good – which is obviously important – and he has worked at different clubs, but is educated at Porto, which is good for us because Pep is from there as well.
“He had made his own experience already and now we can all get the benefit of that. It will be great for the boys 100 per cent.
“We have to introduce him to the boys, but he will do that today.”
Matos holds an UEFA Elite Youth A License and has worked in a variety of youth roles at Porto including under-10, U12 and U14 level, U15s and U17s assistant coach positions plus opposition scouting for U19s and Porto B.
