Pep Lijnders Leaves Manchester City as Guardiola Era Ends
Manchester City’s summer of change grows even starker. Not only is Pep Guardiola walking away after a decade and 20 trophies, but the man many at the Etihad hoped would help bridge the gap to the next regime is going with him.
Pep Lijnders, Guardiola’s assistant for just a single, breathless season, will leave the club at the end of the campaign, choosing his own path rather than a supporting role under incoming manager Enzo Maresca.
A One-Season Jolt of Energy
Lijnders arrived in June 2025, fresh from his high-profile stint alongside Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool. City saw him as a high-octane addition to Guardiola’s inner circle, a coach with ideas, presence, and experience of living inside an elite, title-chasing machine.
Those inside the club felt his impact quickly. Training intensity, tactical detail, the constant hum of energy on the grass and on the touchline – Lijnders brought all of it to an already demanding environment. For one season, it was Guardiola with a Klopp lieutenant at his side, a rare and intriguing blend of footballing cultures.
Then Guardiola made his call.
Guardiola Goes, Lijnders Follows
Once the Catalan confirmed he would end his extraordinary 10-year reign at the Etihad, City’s hierarchy moved fast. They knew the scale of the void. Ten years, 20 trophies, a defined playing identity, and a culture built in Guardiola’s image do not simply roll into a new era without careful planning.
Inside those conversations, Lijnders featured heavily. According to The Athletic’s James Pearce, City wanted him to stay. The club offered the Dutchman a new long-term contract and a place on the staff of Enzo Maresca, the man expected to be confirmed as Guardiola’s successor from the 2026/27 season.
City saw continuity. Lijnders saw something else.
At 43, with years spent in the shadows of two of the defining coaches of this generation, he chose not to remain as an assistant under another manager. The chance to help shape a new era at City was on the table. He pushed it away, preferring a clean break and the prospect of leading a project of his own elsewhere.
Maresca In, But Without a Key Link
Maresca will walk into a club that had hoped to hand him a ready-made conduit between the old and the new. Lijnders understood Guardiola’s methods, knew the dressing room, and had already earned the trust of players and staff in a short space of time.
Instead, Maresca must build his own backroom team without that bridge. City wanted Lijnders as one of the Italian’s assistants; he declined. It is a reminder that this is not just a change of head coach, but a wider reset in the dugout.
The Guardiola era will not fade gently. It ends with a decisive cut.
A Final Goodbye at the Etihad
Lijnders will say his farewells on Sunday, after City’s final Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium. Players, staff, and supporters will salute Guardiola. In quieter corners of the stadium, they will also say goodbye to the Dutch coach whose stay was short, but far from anonymous.
By the time the summer unfolds, Guardiola will be gone. Lijnders will be gone. Maresca will step into the spotlight.
City have their new man. Lijnders, at last, is going in search of his own stage.
