Gary McAllister is to be appointed Liverpool’s new first-team coach following productive talks over the vacancy with Brendan Rodgers.

The 50-year-old former Leeds United and Coventry City manager met Rodgers on Wednesday to discuss replacing Mike Marsh, who was released at the end of his contract last month. His return to the club where he became a hugely popular figure during a two-year spell as a player will be announced before Liverpool depart for a pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia on Sunday.

McAllister won the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup with Gérard Houllier’s Liverpool in 2001 and has been out of football since leaving Aston Villa in 2011, having been assistant manager to Houllier before the French coach’s departure on health grounds.

Rodgers was keen to add a coach with Liverpool credentials to his backroom team this summer following the exits of Marsh and the club’s assistant manager Colin Pascoe. The former Bournemouth and Doncaster Rovers manager Sean O’Driscoll arrived from the Football Association as Pascoe’s replacement and the highly rated Pepijn Lijnders has been promoted from Liverpool Under-16s to the newly created position of first team development coach.

McAllister’s impending arrival as first-team coach will complete the backroom team for the new Premier League campaign.