Former Liverpool assistant manager Zeljko Buvac has signed a new contract at Dynamo Moscow, keeping him in his position of sporting director until 2024.
The 60-year-old previously served as Jurgen Klopp's right-hand man at Anfield between 2015 and 2018, before leaving the club in surprising circumstances.
Confusion reigned as Buvac's departure came out of the blue, two days before a Champions League semi-final second-leg with AS Roma, with it unclear as to what had caused him to part company with the Reds.
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Klopp had worked with Buvac - a man the manager famously and affectionately dubbed 'The Brain' - since 2001 and his name echoed around social media whenever the Reds stumbled for a long time after his departure.
His next role in football did not arrive until February 2020, at which point he joined Dynamo Moscow as he accepted a new challenge almost two years after leaving Liverpool.
After making this move, Buvac granted a rare interview to Nobel and opened up about his first six months at Dynamo while also asked about his split from Jurgen Klopp and reaction to Liverpool winning the Premier League title.
Asked if he had sent a congratulatory message to his former employers, he responded: "I didn't. I was happy for Liverpool, for the fans, for the players. But I didn’t."
Dynamo Moscow are thriving during the current campaign, sitting just two points behind league leaders Zenit St Petersburg after 18 matches played.
Buvac's current side finished last season in seventh place and 15 points behind Zenit but have experienced major progression to challenge for the top-flight title this term.
Some supporters were surprised to hear of his contract extension in Russia, meanwhile, unaware that he had even joined the club in the first place:
That reaction in part stems from how Liverpool dealt with the situation; quietly confirming Buvac's exit, allowing no stories to gather any traction or adding any fuel to a fire while promoting Pepijn Lijnders to assistant manager, meaning the Reds rose to a better position than they had ever been with Buvac.
Lijnders left Anfield in 2018 before returning to step up and join Peter Krawietz as Klopp's full-time assistant manager.
Since then Klopp - aided by the Krawietz and Lijnders - guided the Reds to the pinnacle of European football having won the Champions League in 2019 before going on to claim the Premier League title in the following season.
