“Is that a problem?” – Pep Lijnders lifts lid on Manchester City interview chat with Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pepijn Lijnders has offered a remarkable insight into the private conversations that led to him joining Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff at Manchester City last summer.

The Dutch assistant coach has given a peak through the curtain on a recruitment process that began with a phone call from Guardiola and ended with a FA Cup and Carabao Cup double winning season for the Blues.

Lijnders has departed Manchester City alongside Guardiola, goalkeeping coach Xabier Mancisidor, fitness coach Lorenzo Buenaventura, head of sport Manuel Estiarte and fellow assistant coach Kolo Toure – a wholesale exit of the entire backroom unit that shaped Guardiola’s farewell campaign at the Etihad Stadium.

Pep said he wanted to rebuild Man City one more time: Lijnders

Lijnders described a conversation that gave him an immediate sense of both the scale of the task and the honesty of the man asking him to take it on.

In an interview with Dutch outlet AD.nl, the 43-year-old said: “When Pep called last year, he said, ‘I want to build a new Man City one more time’,” as quoted by Mail Sport.

“He knew how Jurgen (Klopp) and I worked at Liverpool and had Klopp’s blessing to sound me out. He also said he was in the final two years of contract. ‘It’s not a long-term project. Is that a problem?'”

The detail of Klopp giving his blessing is a striking one: two of the greatest managers of their generation, rivals across years of the most intense competition English football has seen, maintaining enough mutual respect for one to personally endorse the other’s approach to a member of his own staff.

Lijnders: Pep approaches a match plan like a surgeon performs heart surgery

Lijnders went on to describe the three specific qualities Guardiola was seeking when he made his approach, offering one of the most vivid portrayals yet of what working alongside the recently departed Manchester City manager on a daily basis actually looks like.

He added: “Guardiola was looking for three things specifically; a coach by his side who would challenge him with fresh ideas, a more aggressive playing style to survive the increasingly physical Premier League, and innovation on the training pitch.

“He is very intense. Every day we were busy from morning until evening. He approaches a match plan like a surgeon performs heart surgery: extremely meticulously, checking every vital part with tweezers.

“Just like Klopp, he has genuine love for his players. That love is what distinguishes absolute top coaches from the rest.”

Earlier this season, City playmaker Rayan Cherki described Guardiola as “crazy” in his love for football. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma said that working with the Catalan is something “until you live it, you’ll never understand”. Lijnders, having spent a year inside that environment, finds the perfect image to describe it.