Revealed: Pep Guardiola’s personal phone call to Jurgen Klopp to enquire about new addition | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made a phone call to former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to enquire about a potential new addition to his backroom staff.

The shake-up of Guardiola’s backroom staff structure was confirmed off the back of a hugely disappointing 2024/25 campaign that saw Manchester City fail to secure a single piece of major silverware for the first time since 2017.

A triple exit was announced by the club last month, confirming the departures of assistant coach Juanma Lillo and technical coach Inigo Dominguez upon the expiry of their respective contracts, and with the former expressing a desire to return to his native home of Spain.

Additionally, Carlos Vicens would also leave the club and his responsibilities as a set-piece coach, stepping into a senior head coach position for the first time in his career at SC Braga, despite Manchester City’s offer of a contract extension.

Manchester City have moved swiftly to ensure that the trio of departures are being addressed as soon as possible with suitable replacements, and it was announced this week that Pepijn Lijnders would arrive as the club’s new assistant manager.

The former right-hand man to Jurgen Klopp and close friend of Arne Slot arrives at the Etihad Stadium with a remarkable reputation, and joins long-standing Liverpool analyst James French at the City Football Academy ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup.

Offering a wide-ranging behind-the-scenes insight into the process of recruiting Lijnders, The Athletic’s James Pearce reveals that Pep Guardiola called the 42-year-old on May 27 to explain his wish to work together, chatting for half an hour about footballing principles and responsibilities awaiting at the Etihad.

The Manchester City manager was also clear he needed the Dutchman immediately for the FIFA Club World Cup, rearranging a family holiday.

Pep Guardiola also reportedly took the opportunity to speak to former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana when Manchester City travelled to Southampton in early May, asking him for his thoughts on Lijnders.

A personal phone call to Jurgen Klopp would then follow on the same topic, with ‘glowing feedback’ issued on Lijnders’ contribution to Liverpool’s Premier League, Champions League, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup successes.

From the side of Pep Lijnders, the Dutchman is said to have phoned Klopp to inform him of his decision to join Manchester City and also rang Arne Slot – a long-term friend who had been in regular contact with during the course of last season.

Elsewhere and the president of Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group is also revealed to have rang Lijnders to wish him well and reassure him that the club’s owners would always appreciate what he had done and that their relationship would not change.

Manchester City are set to travel to the United States this week ahead of the start of the FIFA Club World Cup, with Lijnders and James French among the travelling party as Pep Guardiola’s side go in search of defending their global crown claimed in 2023.

Under-18 assistant coach and former Manchester City defender Kolo Toure is also expected to be part of the travelling party, although it remains unknown at this stage as to whether the Ivorian’s step-up into the first-team is a permanent switch or merely temporary.

There will also be four new faces in the playing structure as the quartet of summer signings completed by Hugo Viana in Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli, Rayan Cherki, and Tijjani Reijnders join the first-team squad for the competition.