The Jurgen Klopp disciple ready to boost Pep Guardiola's Man City

Independent

2 days ago

Some worrying news for bookshops on Merseyside. Any copies of 'Intensity' by Pep Lijnders are likely to remain unsold on the shelves.
They may want to instead store them with 'El Nino', the Fernando Torres autobiography that was a love story to Liverpool. But Torres joined Chelsea and now, barely a year after leaving Liverpool, Lijnders' return to English football could come by Pep Guardiola 's side.
The supporters who branded Trent Alexander-Arnold a traitor for heading for Real Madrid – though one of their complaints has been removed now he is no longer going on a free transfer, but for €10m – may transfer their irritation to Jurgen Klopp 's sidekick should he materialise at Manchester City, the club who ensured one of the great Liverpool managers won a lone league title.
If a year away has illustrated the legacy Klopp and Lijnders left, with Arne Slot's success reflecting well on the previous regime, it may have been chastening in other respects. Klopp's popularity in Germany has been dented by the decision of a man who was a byword for authenticity to work for the despised Red Bull group. Lijnders, once touted as a potential successor to Klopp at Anfield, floundered in his second attempt to go it alone.
He was sacked by RB Salzburg – a couple of weeks before Klopp took up his role at their parent organisation – with the usually dominant force in Austrian football only fifth in the Bundesliga, 10 points off the lead, and having lost five of their six Champions League games. Defeats without scoring to Sparta Prague, Brest and Dinamo Zagreb were scarcely the great European nights Lijnders experienced at Liverpool.
Take out the tribalism of football, however, and there is logic on both his and Guardiola's side; this could be a marriage of considerable convenience. City parted company with three assistant coaches, in Carlos Vicens, Inigo Domingues and Juanma Lillo, which could leave Guardiola looking lonely. Lillo, in particular, was a symbolic figure; Guardiola admired him so much he went to Mexico to end his playing career under Lillo at Dorados Sinaloa.
Yet if City's explanation was simply that Lillo, whose contract expired this summer, wanted to return to Spain – and he never spoke much English – Guardiola's most torrid season featured many a strange decision. The Guardiola-Lillo axis may not have worked as well as it did. At 42, Lijnders is 17 years younger than the wizened Spaniard, with a Premier League pedigree, multilingual – speaking Spanish and Portuguese – and bringing an energy Klopp appreciated as he aged. That City struggled with the physicality of many an opponent last season could give an added reason to appoint a coach responsible for some Liverpool sides who were primed to outrun anyone.
For Lijnders, meanwhile, a step backwards could nevertheless bring one of the plum coaching jobs, just not a managerial post. He was interviewed by Norwich, before they appointed Liam Manning. The City Football Group, with their portfolio of clubs, could suit Lijnders' long-term plan to get back into management. Or, if Klopp does not return to management, he could do with finding a new patron. A double act of Pep and Pep may sound good.
A theme of Guardiola's career has been his ability to win with different assistants, starting with Tito Vilanova at Barcelona. At City, he has been joined by Mikel Arteta, Brian Kidd, Domenec Torrent, Rodolfo Borrell, Enzo Maresca and Lillo.
Lijnders' partnership with Klopp followed the break-up of his long-term alliance with Zeljko Buvac. The Dutchman's ideas nevertheless took Liverpool to greater heights; arguably they played less heavy-metal football but they won the 2019 Champions League and the 2020 Premier League and pursued the quadruple in 2022.
His brief spell at Salzburg, like a similarly short stint at Nijmegen in 2018, could suggest that Lijnders is no manager. While he could coin Klopp-style soundbites – 'our identity is intensity' was one – perhaps they didn't sound right without Klopp and he lacked his mentor's degree in people. Lijnders is thought to be aware of his shortcomings. As a coach, though, his reputation is safe.
Klopp initially inherited him, asked by Fenway Sports Group's Mike Gordon to give him a go. He agreed, ringing the FSG president a few weeks into his reign to tell him that he didn't like Lijnders only, after a dramatic pause, to add that he loved him. He brought him back to Anfield after Buvac left.
He played him at padel, often losing to a man 16 years his junior; that was a sign of Lijnders' competitiveness. Unlike Peter Krawietz, Klopp's other assistant and a far quieter figure, Lijnders had a profile in his own right. He did the pre-match media duties before Carabao Cup games, to prepare him for the return to management, which then backfired.
Instead, he is primed to join the select group who have crossed the great divide and played a part for arguably the two most influential managers of their generation. For Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski and Thiago Alcantara, however, it was as players. For Lijnders, in the opposing dugout for titanic duels as Klopp enjoyed a rare winning record against Guardiola, it will be as a coach. Liverpool could win the games but, over 38 matches, City won the title in Lijnders' last four seasons at Anfield. So if he couldn't beat Guardiola, he will now join him.