Pep Guardiola has made Man City change that will have 'big impact' on squad
Pep Guardiola has brought in Pep Lijnders as his assistant manager for 2025/26, the man who helped Jurgen Klopp mastermind Premier League and Champions League triumphs at Liverpool
Pep Lijnders' arrival at Manchester City as Pep Guardiola's assistant manager is bound to have a massive impact on the squad, according to Richard Dunne.
The news broke back in May that Juanma Lillo, Inigo Dominguez and Carlos Vicens would leave the Etihad Stadium this summer upon the expiration of their contracts, with numerous names suggested as suitable replacements to work alongside Guardiola going forward - including Lijnders and Kolo Toure.
And now, it has officially been announced that Lijnders will strive to bring glory back to Greater Manchester and revitalise the current crop of players who were pipped to the Premier League trophy by Arne Slot's Liverpool this season. And according to City legend Dunne, who plied his trade with the side between 2000 and 2009, a change up in coaching could have be the boost that the club desires at present.
Speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News via William Hill, Dunne said: "I think it has a big effect on the dressing room. I think the fact players build up relationships, certainly with assistant coaches, they can tend to get closer to them because they're not the ones making the big decisions in the end, so players trust them a little bit more, they give them a little bit more information.
"So it can have a major effect, obviously from a footballing point of view. People come in with fresher ideas, something new, that might give the players a little bit of a lift.
"But, yeah, it's not something that you change lightly, I wouldn't have thought. You don't just wake up and think, right, it's the assistants that have to go.
"I think it makes a big effect on the overall atmosphere within the club and certainly the sort of training sessions that will come from it on the pitch. The players are used to winning things, they're used to being challenged, so I'd imagine I can see it being that some players will miss the outcome on coaches and some players will look forward to the new ones coming in. So it's a bit of a mixed one but it feels like it needs to freshen the whole thing up and not just the playing staff but also the coaches."
"I think with Kolo Toure, he's been there working with the under-18s this season, so that's just a progression for him. I think Pep Lijnders will know the mentality that comes from within Liverpool. He knows how to get inside, organise the energy that it took from Liverpool and maybe that's something that's that City missed this year, was just that little bit of energy, that bit of almost hunger and relentlessness in games.
"Sometimes they got run over in midfield and I think when you look back at the Liverpool side that Pep Lijnders was involved with, that never happened to them, so that might be something that he brings to them. It's hard to add more to what Pep's already got, because whoever comes in and works for him ends up being really good, but obviously it comes back and I'll come from him."
No stranger to the trials and tribulations of the Premier League, Lijnders was Jurgen Klopp's right-hand man when Liverpool won their first league title since the league's reformation of 1992 in the 2019/20 campaign. He also helped Liverpool win their sixth Champions League in 2018/19.
However, in May 2024, Lijnders left Liverpool to manage Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. It was announced in December that Die Rotten Bullen had parted ways with the 42-year-old after just 29 games in charge of the club.
Elsewhere, it is reported that Toure - who has been City's U18 coach for the past year - is also flying out to the United States to join Guardiola for the upcoming Club World Cup, although it is unknown as to whether he will go on to become a permanent coach in the Spanish tactician's revamped set-up.
City are one of just two English teams taking part in the competition this summer, with Chelsea also participating in the tournament. City take on Moroccan outfit Wydad AC in their first group stage game of the Club World Cup, before facing UAE Pro League set-up Al-Ain and Serie A giants Juventus.
The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world's best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.
Fans can watch every match live and for free by signing up to DAZN.