Former Liverpool coaches Pep Lijnders, James French join Pep Guardiola's staff at Manchester City
Manchester City have appointed two former Liverpool coaches to Pep Guardiola's backroom staff.
Pep Lijnders spent nine and a half years at Anfield as an assistant coach, the majority of those alongside Jurgen Klopp, across two spells. Lijnders, 42, left along with Klopp last summer to take up the head coach role at Red Bull Salzburg but lasted just seven months in the role before being sacked in December. He has taken up the role of assistant coach at City.
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James French moves directly from Liverpool and joins as a set-piece coach, having worked as an opposition analyst for the Merseyside club since 2012.
The Athletic reported in May that Guardiola was reshuffling his coaching staff after a disappointing defence of their Premier League title. They ended the season 13 points behind champions Liverpool.
Assistants Juanma Lillo, Carlos Vicens, and Inigo Dominguez are all leaving the club, with Guardiola said to be keen to add new voices and perspectives to his backroom team to help him continue to push on and innovate.
Lijnders joined Liverpool in 2014 as an under-16s coach and was promoted to the first team staff by Brendan Rodgers the following year. When Klopp replaced Rodgers in October of that year, Lijnders stayed on. He spent a season as head coach of NEC Nijmegen in his native Netherlands in 2018 before returning.
Alongside Klopp, the Dutchman helped Liverpool win the Premier League and the Champions League, as well as the FA Cup and Carabao Cup (twice).
City will compete in the Champions League again next season after closing their campaign strongly to finish third.
(Photo of Pep Lijnders:)
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