Why the coaching refresh at Manchester City demonstrates a real appetite for change

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There has always been a huge churn among Pep Guardiola’s staff throughout his time at Manchester City, with Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca just two of the assistants being tempted away by major opportunities elsewhere — but this year there was a definite appetite for change within the club.

Following the disappointment of the 2024-25 regular season, City moved to freshen things up as quickly as possible ahead of the Club World Cup, not only by bringing in three new outfield players but by making significant changes to the backroom staff.

Juanma Lillo departed after his second stint at City, alongside his long-term assistant at other clubs, Inigo Dominguez, and set-piece coach Carlos Vicens. Last season’s struggles played their part in those changes, in some way or another.

Lillo, during his two spells at City, effectively served as Guardiola’s psychologist, always pushing the manager by asking questions and providing solutions. A larger than life character, Lillo could generally get away with not speaking English because, firstly, his role was to help Guardiola stay sharp and, secondly, he is charismatic enough to be of use on the training ground. Besides, many City players speak Spanish anyway — he is still very close with Fernandinho (who is multilingual), for example.

Juanma Lillo has now departed City (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Lillo played a valuable role in the club’s success, firstly between 2020 and 2022 and then from 2023 until this summer. He even helped City prepare for matches in the season that they won the treble, despite him having left to manage Al Sadd; he returned to Manchester for the famous 4-0 victory over Real Madrid and was in Istanbul as City won the Champions League.

Following that success, and the departure of Guardiola’s assistants Maresca and Rodolfo Borrell, who left to become Austin FC’s sporting director, Lillo returned, a special request from the manager. City, fully aware of his importance to Guardiola, were essentially obliged to make the move happen, even paying compensation to get him.

They also brought in Dominguez as another assistant to Guardiola, as Dominguez had been Lillo’s long-term right-hand man, including at Al Sadd, although his impact during his time at City is said to have been limited.

The club won the Premier League title with Lillo and Dominguez in 2023-24 but last season was a well documented struggle for everybody around the first-team, and sources — who, like all in this article, will remain anonymous to protect relationships — say that even Lillo’s leading role in Guardiola’s support network was less effective.

As City looked for ways to make things work again, at a time when some players were concerned that they were not getting enough instruction, Vicens took on more responsibility as one of Guardiola’s assistants, splitting his time between that role and his regular set-piece duties. Inevitably, he was caught between the two jobs, but that did not mean he did not impress.

Carlos Vicens (left) with Inigo Dominguez in September 2024 (Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Getty Images)

In fact, as far back as January, Guardiola had intended to make Vicens his full-time assistant for the 2025-26 season, alongside another addition.

“It’s happened for many years from all the assistant managers I’ve had; always I try to drink from their knowledge,” Guardiola said during the Club World Cup.

“I need the people like last season with Juanma, in the past with Mikel (Arteta), with Enzo, with Dome (Torrent), with Rodo, all the assistants help me. Always it’s, ‘What is your opinion? What would you do? How would you do it? What drill will you make?’”

Sources say that Vicens provided that kind of presence on the staff and City made him a contract offer towards the end of the Premier League season, but he was provided the opportunity to manage Braga in Portugal, which was considered too good to turn down.

He had initially agreed to begin his managerial career in the Netherlands with Heracles in 2022, but the agreement was cancelled and he continued at City.

With him being more involved as an assistant, City had been looking for a new set-piece coach since the midpoint of last season, a search that eventually led to James French being recruited from Liverpool this summer.

While Vicens was offered the chance to stay at City, the club had decided not to continue with Lillo and Dominguez — sources say the decision was communicated to them before the game at Fulham on the final day. City felt that, as well as freshening up the squad with new signings, new energy was needed in the coaching staff, too, though nobody left on bad terms.

Lillo, sources say, was also feeling in need of a rest. He had missed some games towards the end of the season through ill health and while he is not thought to have any serious issues, he intends to spend time in Spain with family.

“The new people that have come in, especially our new set-piece coach, explain things in a very simple way that I quite like and I know other players also like very much,” Ilkay Gundogan said in June, which raised a few eyebrows about how things had been working previously.

Ilkay Gundogan is enjoying things being explained in a simple way (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Just as they did in the transfer market, unveiling Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Ait-Nouri in the space of just a couple of days, City moved quickly to bring in Pep Lijnders, French and Kolo Toure before the Club World Cup — Lijnders even rearranged a family holiday so that he could join as soon as possible.

Toure was brought on board temporarily, at least initially, to help out while in the U.S. and is said to have been popular with the players; with both Guardiola and Ljinders providing plenty of intensity, Toure is a softer touch, being closer to the squad and helping to provide the necessary balance.

In Lijnders, it is clear that City’s players will be getting a more hands-on approach from Guardiola’s lead assistant, perhaps similar to Arteta and Maresca’s input. The Dutchman has been charged with designing and delivering the training programme, as he did at Liverpool, and video footage of his earliest sessions show him very involved on the grass.

Guardiola spoke to Jurgen Klopp before bringing Pep Lijnders onto his staff (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Sources say that Guardiola had considered other options before deciding on Lijnders, but he certainly did his homework before bringing the former Liverpool man on board, including a phone call with Jurgen Klopp and a conversation with former Reds midfielder Adam Lallana following City’s game against Southampton in May.

Guardiola was often seen with an arm on, or around, Lijnders’ shoulder during City’s games this summer and with their last-16 elimination at the hands of Al Hilal at least providing the silver lining of a four-week rest, there is little doubt around the club that the coaches will be plotting a route back to the top long before the players report back for duty in August.

City returned from the States smarting at their relatively early exit but the tournament does appear to have served as a firebreaker between ‘last’ season and ‘next’ season, with new players and new staff given some time to bed in and provide an energy that had clearly been lacking.

(Top photo: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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