Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to Neil Critchley following his Liverpool exit.
Critchley stood down as the Reds’ under-23 coach on Monday in order to take the reins with League One outfit Blackpool, ending a six-year spell at the club.
In his developmental role, the 41-year-old took charge of first-team affairs on two occasions this season in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup respectively.
Liverpool’s youngsters lost their December clash with Aston Villa in the former competition but overcame Shrewsbury in last month’s fourth-round replay.
Ahead of his side’s FA Cup trip to Chelsea, Klopp placed on record his pride at Critchley stepping into front line management following his Academy spell.
He said: “It’s a nice challenge for him, a nice opportunity. He wanted to take it, he asked the club and we said, ‘Yes, of course.’
“It’s really nice because it shows it’s possible that you can make your way as a youth or U23 coach as well, that’s always what we wanted to have.
“We wanted to have the best people here in all different departments, that means in all the coaching roles as well.
“That means there are some requests – and will hopefully be more in the future – from other clubs. That’s exactly how it should be.
“We don’t want to have somebody here for like 20 years who is doing the same job. No, it’s exactly like that.
“I’m really happy for him that he got that opportunity and that he takes it. It’s a big club and hopefully everything will go well.”