Pep Guardiola has revealed he felt an immediate connection with his Manchester City assistant Pep Lijnders – but did plenty of research with former Liverpool players before hiring Jurgen Klopp’s long-time assistant manager.
Lijnders returns to Anfield on Sunday but by Guardiola’s side as part of City’s coaching team after taking a job at the Etihad Stadium last summer.
And Guardiola said he was an admirer of the work Lijnders and Klopp did together at Liverpool as he said he did his due diligence before hiring the Dutchman.
He said: “I had a lot of info from other people about him who had been trained or managed by him at Liverpool. I needed to refresh myself first with new people who have incredible knowledge about the game and the Premier League and I love a lot many things that he did with Jurgen at Liverpool. We talked one day, I think we felt connected immediately. I am incredibly lucky that since the first day I started as a manager [with] all my backroom staff and close people and Pep is one of them.”
Guardiola gave an insight into what Lijnders, a former RB Salzburg manager, has added, saying: “Methodology of training sessions and vision of part of the game and the freedom to say what we should do, continually talking about what could be better in that way with the player and other ones and one system or the other.
“That is the funny part of our game, imagining what we can do, what is going to happen, and confronting with opinions for people that you truly believe are incredibly well prepared for their business.”
Lijnders worked with many of the current Liverpool players, though Guardiola feels he can offer less insight into the head coach after Klopp stood down in 2024.
“It would have been easier if Jurgen was the manager there, because he has not been with Arne [Slot],” Guardiola said. “They play a little bit different but at the end the quality remains.”
