Former Liverpool assistant manager and Pep Guardiola’s right-hand man Pep Lijnders has left Manchester City, following the Spaniard out the door.
Lijnders, Kolo Toure, Lorenzo Buenaventura, Manel Estiarte and Xabi Mancisidor have all left City, with Enzo Maresca set to appoint his own backroom staff when he takes over at the Etihad.
Dutchman Lijnders was famed for assisting Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool until the German’s departure, but stepped into the City dugout in the summer after being persuaded by Guardiola.
His family are now based in the Netherlands, and knew his work at City wasn’t a long-term job. He told Dutch publication AD: ‘My wife and I want a permanent place for our growing sons. Moving back to England for years is no longer an option.
‘Without my family, I wouldn’t do a second year anyway. The club wanted to move forward, offered me a position on a new manager’s staff, or the chance to become head coach at a foreign club within the City Football Group.’
Lijnders was essentially at City for less than a year, and revealed more details of how he was persuaded to join the club – and the three demands Guardiola made.
Pep Lijnders (centre) has revealed why he is following Pep Guardiola (left) out of Man City
‘When Pep called in May last year, he was immediately open,’ Lijnders said. ‘He said: “I want to build a new City one more time”. He knew how Jürgen and I worked together at Liverpool and had Klopp’s blessing to sound me out. He also said that he was in the final two years of his contract. “So it’s not about a long-term project. Is that a problem for you?”
‘Guardiola was looking for three things specifically. A coach by his side who would challenge him with fresh ideas, a more aggressive playing style to survive in the increasingly physical Premier League, and innovation on the training pitch.
‘He is very intense. Every day we were busy from morning until evening. He approaches creating a match plan like a surgeon performs heart surgery: extremely meticulously, checking every vital part with tweezers. And, just like Klopp, he has genuine love for his players. That, that love, is what distinguishes the absolute top coaches from the rest.’
Former Arsenal star Toure, meanwhile, was also appointed to Guardiola’s coaching staff last season after working with City’s development teams. He has previously worked as manager of Wigan, and assisted Brendan Rodgers at Leicester.
Fitness coach Buenaventura had worked with Guardiola at the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich as well as City.
Estiarte has worked with the Spaniard as head of operations at all three clubs, while head of goalkeeping Mancisidor joined City in 2013 under Manuel Pellegrini and stayed for the duration of Guardiola’s reign.
City said: ‘Everyone at City would like to thank all five members of staff for their hard work and dedication and wish them the very best of luck in the future.’
