Former Liverpool assistant coach Pep Lijnders has joined Manchester City’s coaching staff, becoming Pep Guardiola’s new assistant.

City have simultaneously announced the appointment of James French, who also worked at Liverpool, as set-piece coach.

The pair replace Juanma Lillo, Inigo Dominguez and Carlos Vicens, Guardiola’s former assistants who left the club at the end of last season.

Ljinders joins Guardiola’s coaching staff, having been a part of Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers’ backroom team at Anfield across two separate spells.

The 42-year-old initially joined Liverpool in 2014 under Rodgers, before becoming Klopp’s assistant in 2015 as the German began a transformative nine years in charge of the current Premier League champions.

The Dutch coach then briefly left Anfield to take up a stint as head coach of NEC in the Eredivisie in 2018. However, after being dismissed by NEC at the end of the 2017/18 season, Ljinders returned to Liverpool.

Ljinders left the Reds along with Klopp at the end of the 2023/24 season and was most recently in charge of Red Bull Salzburg – owned by Red Bull GmbH for whom Klopp works for as head of football – but he left the Austrian in December 2024.

French, who spent over a decade at Liverpool as an opposition analyst after joining in 2012, has experience with the Welsh FA as well as spending time at Swansea.

Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next season

From next season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.

And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.