Raymond Verheijen, known among Liverpool fans on social media as 'The Fitness Egg', was a constant critic of Jurgen Klopp's squad conditioning methods during the early days of his tenure.

Now, he claims he was proven right about the former Reds boss while praising successor Arne Slot.

Verheijen, a former youth player in Holland who had to retire at 18 due to chronic injury, moved into coaching where he worked with Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona, along with the national teams of Wales, Holland, Russia and South Korea.

He had previously labelled David Moyes "a dinosaur" during his unsuccessful stint at Manchester United in 2013 and followed up his criticism of Borussia Dortmund when Klopp's Liverpool squad suffered a series of injuries in 2017, calling the Reds' training "a mess".

Premier League LIVE: Guehi speaks on ‘tough’ summer, Man United dressing room ‘bugged’, Cucurella makes wild referee claim, Liverpool cult hero retires	Last minute bids, secret meetings and how Liverpool's greatest victory unfolded	Premier League LIVE: Martinelli adds to Arsenal injury woes, Guardiola responds to England links, Man United dressing room ‘bugged’, Van Dijk and Salah return to Liverpool early

This long-distance war of words prompted a response from Klopp about Liverpool's hectic festive schedule in 2016: "We play two games in 48 hours, there will be injuries and then some Dutch guy will say things."

In 2018, when Liverpool reached the Champions League final and finished fourth in the Premier League, sparking a successful period under Klopp, Verheijen offered what seemed like a backhanded compliment.

He said it was "encouraging to see managers like Jurgen Klopp are not too old to learn from their mistakes in previous seasons".

However, Verheijen believes his comments should not have been seen as negative by the former Liverpool boss.

Raymond Verheijen was a fierce critic of Jurgen Klopp during his time at Liverpool.

Also, he has a very football-specific approach which is much appreciated by players."

In an exclusive interview with flashscore.com, Verheijen issued a warning of potential fitness concerns for the Liverpool squad

Already without key players like Alisson Becker for at least a month and Harvey Elliott, whose recovery looks to be on course after fracturing his foot, he noted that coaching changes often lead to more injuries.

"When there is a change in coaching staff, there is a spike in injuries and this spike is significantly bigger if the change in coaching staff also means a change of fitness coach," Verheijen said.

"A lot of fitness coaches aren't football coaches, so they are thinking about fitness in a non-football or isolated way.

"Fitness coaches all have a different way of training, meaning the players' bodies have to adapt to a totally new way of training and that is the main reason for those injuries."


For more news relating to Manchester United, visit our sister site MUFC Live.