Liverpool announced on its official website on Wednesday that former Feyenoord and Netherlands legend Giovanni van Bronckhorst has been officially appointed as the club's new assistant coach.

Liverpool did not elaborate on Van Bronckhorst's contract length with the club in the official statement, but according to This is Anfield's resident renowned Liverpool team correspondent David Lynch, Van Bronckhorst has signed on a short-term one-year deal with the club with an option to extend for a further year.

Van Bronckhorst's arrival will also fill the vacancy left by Jonny Heitinga who had returned to Ajax as head coach last month.

In addition, Liverpool also announced that undisputed first choice goalkeeper Alisson's personal goalkeeping coach Claudio Taffarel, will also leave the club to focus on his work as the goalkeeping coach of the Brazil national team.

Another German goalkeeping coach Fabian Otte will also club the team after completing his work experience internship.

Former Spanish goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero will return to Liverpool as the Head of First-Team Goalkeeping Coach after 15 years.

Valero was the former legendary manager Rafael Benítez's Head of Goalkeeping Coach from 2007 to 2010, so he will not be unfamiliar with the Reds' philosophy and tactical system.

Regarding the Premier League champion's choice to appoint Van Bronckhorst, Lynch said that this decision was very surprising to everyone, including himself.

However, this also shows head coach Arne Slot's to ambition have the main members of his coaching team composed of experienced coaches with title-winning experience.

About Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Van Bronckhorst, 50, was born on February 5, 1975 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He is 1.78 meters tall. During his playing career, he was an excellent Netherlands international left-wingback with great attacking abilities and could also play as a defensive midfielder. He has played for Feyenoord, Arsenal, Barcelona, Rangers and other big clubs and has Indonesian ancestry.

After retiring in the summer of 2010, Van Bronckhorst returned to Feyenoord as an assistant coach and was officially promoted as Feyenoord head coach in the summer of 2015.

During his four-year spell as Feyenoord's head coach, Van Bronckhorst helped the club win the KNVB Cup twice, the Johan Cruyff Shield (Dutch Super Cup) twice and the Eredivisie once.

From January to December 2020, Van Bronckhorst briefly managed the former Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F.

In November of the following year, Van Bronckhorst returned to Rangers, replacing Liverpool legendary captain Steven Gerrard as head coach.

During his time at Rangers, Van Bronckhorst helped the club win the Scottish Cup and reached the Europa League final once, but was sacked in November 2022 due to poor subsequent results.

Last summer, Van Bronckhorst was appointed as Beşiktaş head coach.

However, after the Turkish Süper Lig giants shockingly lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-3 on matchday 5 of the Europa League League Phase, Van Bronckhorst was sacked.

At the international level, Van Bronckhorst has played 106 times for the Netherlands national team in all competitions, scoring 6 goals, providing 5 assists, and won the runner-up in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa with the team.