Norwich City facing huge issue in attempt to secure ex-Liverpool coach as Thorup successor | OneFootball

Norwich City have hit a huge snag in their pursuit of the former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders relating his former position at RB Salzburg.

Norwich City may have hit a huge snag in their attempts to take the former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Ljinders to Carrow Road.

The Canaries sacked Johannes Hoff Thorup in April and played their last couple of League games in the Championship with Jack Wilshere in charge of the team.

But Wilshere was told that he wouldn't be considered for the role on a permanent basis, and attention has instead turned to former Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders.

Norwich's pursuit of former Liverpool assistant could have hit a huge snag

Journalist Alan Nixon this morning confirmed that there could be a significant issue with Norwich being able to install Lijnders as their manager.

The problem is a matter of compensation over his previous position at RB Salzburg. Ljinders left Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season to take over as manager of RB Salzburg, but only lasted six months in the position before being sacked in January, and it's the compensation due from that sacking which could yet cost Norwich the chance to bring him into their club.

Moving to Norwich could cost Lijnders millions unless the Canaries compensate him

Pep Ljinders left Liverpool at the same time as Jürgen Klopp, but his first post-Anfield attempt at managing a club on his own was unsuccessful.

On the surface, Lijnders' record in Austria doesn't look terrible, but different clubs have different expectation levels and at RB Salzburg they are exceptionally high indeed.

He was hired after they missed out on the Austrian Bundesliga title to Sturm Graz in 2024, but they'd won the previous ten League titles in a row (this was also only the fourth time they'd missed out on the title in 17 years), and the expectation was that he would get them back on top of the pile again.

By January 2025 they were ten points adrift at the top of the table, with the Salzburg CEO Stephan Reiter and Managing Director of Sport, Rouven Shroeder saying that, "in many of our matches we have been far short of our own requirements and aims."

Whether Lijnders had under-performed or not at Salzburg, the decision to sack him came at a not-inconsiderable financial cost to the club, who were due to pay up the remainder of his contract. But he wouldn't be entitled to this money should he accept the Norwich job, meaning that accepting any offer from them would cost him millions of Euros.

This leaves Norwich in a bind. They could offer to pay him that compensation themselves, but that would be a lot of money. And, while Lijnders clearly appeals to those making the decision over who their next manager will be, they have also considered other candidates and may go elsewhere if it proves too expensive for them, while they have also indicated that they would otherwise be looking for someone with Championship experience.

They may yet decide that one of the alternative options may be a more cost-effective way to move forward.