The Athletic Manchester City spoke with Sam Lee about the changes in the team's coaching team and said that former Guardiola assistant coach Leo left because he was not as good as before. Before hiring former Reds assistant Linders, Guardiola had a conversation with Klopp.
The article said that since Guardiola coached Manchester City, the coaching staff has been under frequent changes. Arteta and Maresca left because of the good opportunity to independently coach a big club, and this year Manchester City has a strong desire for change. After a season where all four major players were gone, Manchester City quickly made personnel adjustments, not only signing multiple new players, but also making major adjustments to the team behind the scenes.
Leo ended his second-time career at Manchester City, and left with the club's long-term assistant coach Dominguez and set-piece coach Wessons. During his two-time appointment at Manchester City, Leo actually served as a psychological counselor to Guardiola, who always pushes Guardiola by asking questions and providing solutions.
As a distinctive character, although Leo can't speak English, his role is to help Guardiola stay sharp. Secondly, he has enough charm to play a role in the training field. In addition, many Manchester City players speak Spanish, for example, he has a very close relationship with Fernandinho (multi-linguistic).
Leeo played a major role in Manchester City's success, helping the team prepare for the triple-champion season even after leaving Manchester City to coach THAAD, and even returned to Manchester City to watch Manchester City's 4-0 Real Madrid game and witnessed Manchester City's Champions League moment in Istanbul.
Domingues has always been Leo's long-term right-hand man, but he is believed to have limited influence at Manchester City. While the two helped the team achieve four consecutive Premier League titles after returning to Manchester City, last season was a tough time for Manchester City, sources said that even though Leo played a leadership role in supporting Guardiola’s team, the results were no longer as good as before.
When City seeks to get the team back on track, some players are worried they won't get enough guidance. Wiesons took more responsibility as one of Guardiola's assistants, but inevitably lacked skills between the two roles and the set piece coach. According to sources, although Manchester City offered Wessons a contract extension, he had the opportunity to coach Braga, the Portuguese Super League, which he could not refuse.
In the end, Manchester City recruited French from Liverpool as the team's new set piece coach and made the decision to end the cooperation with Leo and Dominguez, because the club believes that in addition to introducing new players to update the team's lineup, the coaching staff also needs to inject new vitality, and the two sides did not feel unhappy in the decision making process. Sources said Leo also felt he needed a break and he missed some games due to health problems at the end of last season, although not considered serious. Before the Club World Cup, Linders, French and Kloe Toure joined the Manchester City coaching staff. Among them, Toure was initially a temporary joining, mainly helping during the Club World Cup, but he is said to be very popular with players and provides the necessary balance for the team. Linders, as Guardiola's new chief assistant coach, provides more direct guidance to Manchester City players, which may be similar to the previous roles of Arteta and Maresca, responsible for designing and executing training plans.
Sources revealed that Guardiola also had telephone conversations with Klopp before deciding to hire Linders and spoke with former Liverpool midfielder Larana after Manchester City's match against Southampton. During the Club World Cup, Guardiola was often seen having cordial conversations with Lindes.