Pep Lijnders had to consider his Liverpool FC past when offered a job at Manchester City and spoke to Jurgen Klopp for clarity
Pep Lijnders and Jurgen Klopp worked together for almost ten years(Image: Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp told Pep Lijnders that he would join Manchester City if his long-time No.2 did not as Pep Guardiola looked for new backroom staff in summer. Three coaches left the City dugout at the end of the season, and Guardiola looked to Lijnders to join him in time for the Club World Cup in June.
As excited as he was by the opportunity, and as much as he had known it was coming from the fact Guardiola had spoken to some close friends and colleagues of Lijnders to sound out whether he would be open to working with him, the man who spent many fruitful years working with Klopp at Liverpool competing with City felt he had to speak to his old boss as he struggled for a decision.
“Do you want my political answer? No, of course not,” he said. “The moment Pep called, and the feeling he gave me about what he wanted to do with the team by bringing me in, the trust he already had before we discussed how it would look – that made the decision much easier.
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“But you cannot put away 10 years of Liverpool that easily. But I’m really proud to come to a club of this magnitude, so successful over the last 10 years and with a manager that defined football. When I spoke with Jurgen he was so clear: ‘If you don’t do it, I will take the assistant job!’
“When I go to Anfield [next week] it will be special, maybe more special for my family than me. But my mindset is to win and to try to beat them.”
Lijnders, filling in for Guardiola on Friday to fulfil the club’s media duties, has proven a welcome addition to a team that is still in the hunt for four trophies heading into the final four months of the season. They know the importance of upcoming Premier League games with Tottenham and Liverpool, but Lijnders has been impressed by the hunger that Guardiola still has to try and win everything in sight.
“The best ones are like that, Tiger Woods, all these guys, they push themselves to limits, they need to feel that to push themselves to limits. And he’s constantly searching for that, very professional, very ambitious, wants to make impact every day,” he said.
“But I always say what I feel is his biggest strength, or what I feel when I came into this club, is the passion he has for his team, his passion he has for us, his love he has for his backroom staff, how he treats everyone, and that family feeling inside this club. That makes it probably a little bit easier as well.”
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