Guardiola Reunited With Mentor As Juanma Lillo Named Man City Assistant

Manchester City have appointed 54-year-old Spaniard, Juan Manuel ‘Junama’ Lillo, as the club’s new assistant manager.

The well-travelled coach joins the Premier League side to replace Mikel Arteta who left to become head coach at Arsenal in December.

The appointment reunites City boss Pep Guardiola with one of his mentors. The pair spent time together at Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa in 2006 when Lillo was coaching the side and Guardiola was coming to the end of his playing career.

This period had a big influence on Guardiola’s soccer philosophy, and the move was made as much to hone his ideas as a coach as it was to enjoy one final season as a player.

It’s likely Guardiola only moved to Mexico to learn from Lillo, a coach he had admired since facing his Real Oviedo side as a Barcelona player.

During a meeting between the two teams, the Barca midfielder sought out the opposition manager after the game.

“At the end of the match he knocked on the changing room door and he told me: ‘I love your teams, I’ve heard great things about you, can we be friends?’” Lillo told the Guardian in 2016.

“How the hell could I not want to be friends with a player I admired as much as Guardiola?”

Lillo is a perfect fit for the Manchester club in this role. He’s a coach whose soccer values match those of the City boss, but also one from whom Guardiola will be open to advice and ideas.

“I am delighted to have joined Manchester City’s coaching staff,” Lillo said of his new role.

“My relationship with Pep goes back many years and I am thrilled to be joining him as part of this exciting team.

“Manchester City has enjoyed much success over recent seasons and played a brand of beautiful football we have come to expect from this club and its manager.

“It’s a pleasure to become a part of this group and I hope to make an important contribution to the club’s success going forwards.”

As one might expect from a man considered one of Guardiola’s mentors, Lillo favours a possession and positional game in which the ball is played out from the back with purpose.

He is quoted as having said: “Everything is much easier if the first progression of the ball is clean,” and during Guardiola’s time under Lillo’s tutelage the midfielder commented to one of his team-mates that the ideal goal was a move which involved everyone on the pitch, from goalkeeper to striker.

The hire could reinvigorate Guardiola and breathe new life into a City squad that are still in this season’s Champions League, but have fallen some way behind Liverpool this season in the quest to defend their Premier League title.

“We are delighted to welcome Juanma to Manchester City,” added the club’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain.

“His vast experience working across three continents and with some of the most famous names in world football will be an invaluable asset to Pep and his team.

“We look forward to him playing a vital role as we return to football.”

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