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Liverpool have appointed Aaron Briggs as their first-team individual development coach, with Arne Slot explaining what the ex-Man City coach’s role will cover.
Briggs, 37, was announced as the latest new addition to Slot’s backroom staff last week, joining after his previous role as assistant coach at Wolfsburg ended in March.
The Englishman arrives having built up an impressive CV, which started with a role as performance analyst at Blackpool in 2007.
His portfolio is certainly varied, and Slot has explained the duties involved in Briggs’ new job title at Liverpool, as he spoke to LFCTV.
“I don’t know the exact right word to use in English, but he’s most importantly finding the bridge between the youth academy and the first team,” the head coach explained.
Aaron Briggs has joined Arne Slot’s backroom staff after being appointed as first team individual development coach ?
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 11, 2024
“Doing a lot of one-on-one meetings with the players as well and of course helping us during the training sessions.
“So he’s just a member of our staff, maybe a bit more focused on the players who are in between the U21s and the first team.
“But he has an analyst background as well as being an assistant coach, so we’re going to use him in every department.”
After spells with Blackpool and Preston, Briggs made the jump to Man City in 2011, holding five different analysis roles over nine years and eventually becoming senior first-team performance analyst.
Two years coaching at Monaco followed before joining Niko Kovac’s staff at Wolfsburg as assistant coach.
Replacing Matos
In theory, his role at Liverpool will be replacing that of Vitor Matos, the Portuguese who himself took over from Pepijn Lijnders as elite development coach.
Matos and before him Lijnders served as, in Slot’s words, the bridge between the academy and the first team, which proved hugely successful during Jurgen Klopp‘s reign.
• READ: Liverpool’s final trophy under Klopp may now have an even bigger impact
The pair are now working together at Red Bull Salzburg, and encouragingly the club have not overlooked the need to replace Matos given the importance of Liverpool’s academy in supplying the senior squad.
Briggs has already been hands-on in pre-season sessions at the AXA Training Centre, with his coaching background – holding a UEFA Pro Licence – allowing him to lead when required.
But his experience as an analyst is also interesting, with Liverpool losing one of their key movers in that respect when Peter Krawietz also left this summer.
It is likely, then, that Briggs will operate in a hybrid role, which is common across the new-look backroom staff in place under Slot.
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