There won't be many Liverpool supporters who have heard the name Vitor Matos before.

The Porto coach, currently in charge of their B team, has joined Liverpool in order to take over assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders' previous role of first-team development coach.

It is a job which involves bringing a select number of academy players to Melwood in order to train with the senior players and become integrated into the first-team setup.

That journey was instrumental in the development of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Lijnders first brought to the first-team training ground as part of the development strategy. The system was seen as a success, given how Alexander-Arnold and others were able to transitioned into the fold in a way which wasn't overbearing or sudden.

Lijnders left the club in 2018 to manage NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands, before returning to takeover from departed assistant boss Željko Buvač, and his previous position has remained vacant since then. With youth prospects such as Harvey Elliot and Ki-Jana Hoever all providing a reminder of their talents in the recent EFL Cup win over MK Dons, the job will now be filled by Matos.

With Liverpool's first-team set to move to the same facility as its academy in Kirkby next summer, the hiring of Matos is a timely reminder of the self-sustainability Jürgen Klopp is aiming to set in place for the club's future long after his departure. It was indeed Klopp who initiated the move to Kirkby as a result of him wanting to bridge the gap between his team and the lower age groups.

Pep Lijnders was responsible for first bringing Trent Alexander Arnold to Melwood.

Klopp has always believed that with the right environment and nurturing, the full potential of young players can be reached in a manner which prepares them for a career at the highest possible level, even if that is not with Liverpool.

This has also enabled the Reds to make the academy self-sufficient in a financial sense, with the sales of players such as Kevin Stewart, Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith yielding profits which help balance the books.

With Liverpool laying out big money on players such as Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker in recent transfer windows, it might be difficult for some at academy level to see how they reasonably make a step up to a team which is currently among the best in the world.

The appointment of Matos, though, is a further reminder that Liverpool is fully committed to opening the door to those who apply themselves correctly.