West Brom are reportedly looking to pinch one of Arne Slot's Liverpool backroom staff after losing manager Carlos Corberan to Valencia.
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West Brom manager Corberan leaves club Baggies eye Slot's assistant coach Liverpool man tipped to step into vacant roleFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
After West Brom boss Corberan swapped the Championship team for La Liga side Valencia earlier this week, the Baggies have been on the lookout for his successor. Now, the Daily Mail states they are targeting Liverpool coach John Heitinga as a possible replacement.
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West Brom are in the third and final year of their Premier League parachute payments, after which it becomes a great deal harder to get promoted as financial cutbacks usually follow. They are currently outside the Championship play-off spots and hiring Heitinga, 41, would appear to be a risk as he has only coached Ajax's first-team for a matter of months in 2023. But the report claims West Brom believe the ex-Everton man, who also had an assistant coaching role at West Ham, has the potential to become a top manager.
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Slot is a big admirer of Heitinga, admitting the young coach has exceeded his expectations since joining him at Anfield this summer.
He said: "John Heitinga is now here with me for the first half season and I couldn’t have wished for more. Very, if I say, talented, I do not even rate him high enough because he’s more than that already, he’s been a head coach himself but he’s still young. He grew into our staff from the start in a very good manner. He has the same idea about football, that’s why I chose him to come to us as well. But the way he is with the boys is very positive. All the things we do we do together. John has played many games in the Premier League and last season he was an assistant coach at West Ham, so brings experience as a player, but also as an assistant in this league. He worked with someone that I know really well, and the two of us have quite a similar playing style, so I think it’s not going to take long for him to understand exactly what we want with the players."
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While both West Brom and Liverpool fans will be keeping a keen eye on Heitinga's future, the former are away to Sheffield United on Sunday and the latter travel to West Ham on the same day.
