Liverpool have tied throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark to a new contract for 2020-21, with the Dane admitting that he has attracted “great interest from other clubs”.
The Reds moved to make another addition to their backroom staff during the autumn of 2018.
Eyebrows were raised when it was revealed that Jurgen Klopp had brought in a specialist to deal with throw-ins.
Gronnemark has, however, proved to be a shrewd addition to the Anfield ranks, with those on Merseyside quick to talk up his value.
Considerable success has been enjoyed in competitive action, with Champions League and Premier League titles secured by a record-setting Liverpool side.
Gronnemark has played a part in those triumphs, with another dimension having been added to the Reds’ game – one that can easily be overlooked.
He will now be sticking around for at least one more season on Merseyside, but his skill set could also be embraced by a number of rivals.
“I'm happy and proud to announce that I have signed a new contract with Liverpool FC for the 20/21 season,” Gronnemark posted on social media.
“I'm a freelance throw-in coach, and there is great interest from other clubs at the moment. Looking forward to help more teams with ‘The Long, Fast and Clever Throw-in’.”
I'm happy and proud to announce that I have signed a new contract with Liverpool FC for the 20/21 season🖋
— Thomas Gronnemark (@ThomasThrowin) July 30, 2020
I'm a freelance throw-in coach, and there is great interest from other clubs at the moment. Looking forward to help more teams with "The Long, Fast and Clever Throw-in"⚽️ pic.twitter.com/va0DBrvoHY
Gronnemark believes he has plenty to offer any prospective employer, with the value that he brings now without question.
He told TheseFootballTimes in March: “The only thing I can say is that people are calling throw-ins ‘marginal gains’ but I think that’s a really bad misconception because it’s not a marginal gain.
“If you look at throw-ins, if you look at the situation just before the throw-in is given and then the following situation, the defending and attacking throw-ins are taking approximately 15 to 20 minutes of a match.
“In Liverpool, [before his arrival] for possession of throw-ins under pressure the club had 45.4 and were number 18 out of 20 in the Premier League, third last. Last season we went to an increase of 33 per cent, and went from number 18 to number one in the Premier League.
“We could also easily score 10 goals in Liverpool with the long throw-ins because Joe Gomez has a really world-class throw-in. But, if you want to score 10 goals from long throw-ins in the Premier League, you also have to take 10 long throw-ins in every game, and do we want to see that at Anfield or on other pitches we’re playing at? No, because it’s not Liverpool’s style.”
While they will not be making sweeping changes to their footballing philosophy, Klopp has embraced the input of Gronnemark.
He said in May 2019: “We brought in Thomas and it changed our throw-in game completely!
“It’s not obvious because when people talk about throw-ins they think it’s a long throw-in and you head it in. Now we have 18 [different] throw-ins in other areas and we want to have the ball after these throw-ins.
“It makes no sense if you have a throw and then after comes a 50-50 situation. So how that improves is massive.”