Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow has been linked with a transfer to Liverpool, in a move which would see him follow outgoing manager Arne Slot. But it's claimed that interest from Anfield predates the selection of Jürgen Klopp's successor.

Officially named as 'head coach' recently, Slot will not wield total transfer power, with a team assembled by the returning Michael Edwards set to take the lead. New sporting director Richard Hughes will be a significant figure.

According to De Telegraaf, Liverpool has been looking at Bijlow since before any of those appointments, with scouts present at four of Feyenoord's Champions League matches earlier in the campaign to keep an eye on the goalkeeper. Should the Reds choose to pursue him under the new leadership, it will not be down to the influence of Slot.

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Bijlow is Slot's number one at Feyenoord. In total, he has made 143 appearances for the Eredivisie outfit, conceding 151 times and keeping 54 clean sheets.

In terms of playing style, Bijlow is very much a modern goalkeeper, renowned for his sweeping. He averages a massive 2.96 defensive actions outside of his penalty area per 90 minutes; that's significantly more than Alisson (1.27), with the average distance of his defensive actions also slightly further than those of the Brazilian (FBref).

Bijlow is also ahead of most of his peers when it comes to claiming crosses. He stops 13.6 per cent of crosses faced, way ahead of Alisson (4.7 per cent), indicating his front-foot approach.

Feyenoord number two Timon Wellenreuther made more Eredivisie appearances over the course of the season, due to wrist and calf injuries for the first-choice stopper (a similar situation to the one that unfolded with Alisson and Caoimhín Kelleher). But Bijlow, who was born in Rotterdam and came up through the Feyenoord academy, returned for the last four games of the campaign.

Slot actually subbed off Bijlow for the final 10 minutes of the last match of the season, seemingly to allow Wellenreuther to receive plaudits. The German played a major part in Feyenoord's season, and was also responsible for what many considered a title-winning save against Ajax the previous year.

The size of the role Wellenreuther has played underlines the biggest concern about Bijlow. Having been slated for big things since his initial emergence in 2016, he has been uncharacteristically injury-prone for a goalkeeper. He has missed significant chunks of every season from 2018/19 onwards.

Bijlow has nonetheless been capped eight times for the Netherlands. His last appearances came in the Nations League last summer, where he played the semi-final against Croatia and the third-placed playoff against Italy. He is one of four goalkeepers on the provisional squad list for the Euros.

Liverpool.com says: If Liverpool wants Bijlow, it's presumably as a replacement for Kelleher as Liverpool's number two. There's little to suggest that would be an upgrade.

But if Kelleher does decide he needs to move on in the summer, Bijlow has a lot of the qualities Liverpool likes; it's not too hard to believe that club scouts were keen even before Slot was in the frame. In particular, his aggressive sweeping and command of his box is reminiscent of the current number two at Anfield.

There's no escaping that his injury history is worrying. An unreliable number two could force Liverpool to field a third-choice goalkeeper far more often than it would like to; that's currently Adrián, though he may also be on the move this summer at the end of his contract.