Pepijn Lijnders, former assistant to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, has been officially announced as Pep Guardiola’s new assistant manager at Manchester City.
Following the exits of three important coaches at the end of the previous campaign at Manchester City, notably Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez, Guardiola’s first-team assistants, their hires occur.
Both Klopp and Lijnders, 42, left Liverpool at the end of the 2023–24 season.
Lijnders first joined Anfield in 2014 under former manager Brendan Rodgers, but he resigned in 2018 to take over Netherlands’ NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie.
The Dutchman took over as manager of Red Bull Salzburg in May 2024 but departed the Austrian club within seven months after only 29 games in charge.
After initially arriving at Anfield in 2014 under former manager Brendan Rodgers, Lijnders left in 2018 to take over as manager of Dutch team NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie.
However, he was fired at the end of that season, and after Zeljko Buvac left Liverpool in 2019, he joined Klopp as an assistant.
He won the FA Cup, two League Cups, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Community Shield in addition to winning the Premier League and Champions League with the Reds.
Likewise, James French, a former opposition analyst and important member of Klopp’s backroom team, has joined Manchester City as the new set-piece coach.
French was a performance analyst with the Football Association of Wales before joining Liverpool in July 2012.