Jürgen Klopp's former assistant at Liverpool joins Manchester City
Guardiola has recruited Pepijn Lijnders and James French to his backroom team as part of a rebuild at the Etihad Stadium.
Going by how Liverpool fans reacted to former player Trent Alexander-Arnold's move to Real Madrid, one wonders what Liverpool fans will do next time they meet Manchester City.
City announced Tuesday that a mastermind of Liverpool's Champions League and Premier League triumphs and who helped the Reds go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in one of the Premier League's great rivalries, has joined them.
After finishing without a trophy for the first time since 2017, Guardiola has recruited Pepijn Lijnders and James French to his backroom team as part of a rebuild at the Etihad Stadium.
Lijnders, who was Klopp's number two for the second half of his successful spell at Liverpool, has been confirmed as Guardiola's new assistant manager.
French, who was a key member of Klopp's backroom staff as opposition analyst, has been appointed City's set-piece coach.
Their appointments follow the departures of three key coaches at the end of last season, including Guardiola's first-team assistants Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez.
Lijnders, 42, left Liverpool at the same time as Klopp at the end of the 2023-24 season.
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.
French was a performance analyst with the Football Association of Wales before joining Liverpool in July 2012.
Lijnders initially arrived at Anfield under former boss Brendan Rodgers in 2014 but left in 2018 to manage Dutch side NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie.
He was dismissed at the end of that season though, and became Klopp's assistant in 2019 in the wake of Zeljko Buvac's departure.
As well as lifting the Premier League and Champions League with the Reds, he also won the FA Cup, two League Cups, the Fifa Club World Cup, the Uefa Super Cup and the Community Shield.
City's director of football Hugo Viana said both Lijnders and French's "talent, application, work ethic and all-round commitment are totally aligned with the values that underpin how Pep wants football to be played".
City will hope to compete with Liverpool and Arsenal next season as they aim to return to the absolute top of the English game after a poor season by their very lofty standards.
