Man City make two more signings as Pep Guardiola freshens things up
Manchester City have appointed two new members of Pep Guardiola's backroom staff to help support the first team squad
Manchester City have confirmed the arrival of two new members of Pep Guardiola's backroom staff. Pep Lijnders and James French will join immediately and be part of the coaching team in time for the Club World Cup.
Amid plenty of change in the first team squad with Rayan Ait Nouri's arrival expected to be the first of four faces through the door before Tuesday's deadline for the first transfer window of the summer, there have also been significant departures in the dugout.
Carlos Vicens has joined Braga as head coach while Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez have left at the end of their contracts to leave Guardiola three assistants down.
That breach has been at least partially filled by the permanent appointments of former Liverpool duo Ljinders and French, who add even more intrigue to a summer of change at the club.
Ljinders is best known for being Jurgen Klopp's assistant at Anfield as the pair produced some epic battles against Guardiola's City in some of the best Premier League battles ever seen.
Joining Ljinders as a coach supporting Guardiola will be French, who has worked as an opposition analyst at Anfield since Brendan Rodgers was in charge and was also an integral part of Klopp's team. While Lijnders left to coach RB Salzburg when Klopp departed, French stayed to help Arne Slot secure Liverpool's second league title in six years and comes to City as the new set-piece coach.
The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world's best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.
Fans can watch every match live and for free by signing up to DAZN.
This is not the first time that Guardiola's assistants have changed at City. Domenec Torrent, Mikel Arteta, Rodolfo Borrell, Lillo, and Enzo Maresca have all said goodbye in previous years to require replacements.
However, it could still mark a significant point for the squad as fresh ideas come in to help Guardiola get City back to where they need to be.
"I'm going to lose people that I adore and they mean something, of course, but it happened in the past with many people," he told ESPN.
"In 15 years, a lot left, everyone cheated on me! But the new ones, younger people and new players, they always bring this energy and this energy revitalises a lot.
"I need energy for myself and the people give me energy. You see the eyes, new faces, 'I want to do it,' 'I want to be there,' new little details in the training sessions. It's new energy.
"Because energy for itself, the energy is one Premier League more, one Champions League more or one Community Shield more? It's not. It's not going to change my life one Premier League more or less in my period in Man City, it's not going to change anything.
"But the [new] people, they give you that [energy] day by day the people. That is the reason why changing players and staff is really good."
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