Pep Guardiola loses another assistant as ex-Liverpool chief heads to MLS

Pep Guardiola has lost a second assistant manager in as many weeks, with Rodolfo Borrell, formerly Liverpool academy director, the latest to depart.

With Man City having achieved the treble last season as they won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, it appears to be a summer of change.

Ilkay Gundogan has left for Barcelona, while Kyle Walker has a strong chance of joining Bayern Munich and Bernardo Silva has an offer from Saudi Arabia.

Off the pitch, too, Guardiola is losing key members of his staff.

Earlier in June, first-team coach Enzo Maresca was confirmed as the new manager of Leicester, following their relegation to the Championship.

Now, according to The Athletic, Borrell is leaving Manchester to take up the role of sporting director of MLS franchise Austin FC.

It comes after nine years with Man City and 14 in England, having left his job at Liverpool to join the state-funded club in 2014.

Borrell initially joined Liverpool in 2009 as part of Rafa Benitez’s staff, arriving as under-18s coach before progressing to the under-21s and then, in 2012, the role of academy director.

He held a similar position upon his switch to Man City, but was then promoted to be Guardiola’s assistant manager in 2016.

Now, though, Guardiola is left without two of his three closest assistants, with only Carlos Vicens left as it stands.

Vicens may even be on the move this summer, too, with suggestions the Spaniard’s contract will expire this summer and having already, very briefly, left a year ago to become manager at Heracles Almelo before returning.

From the perspective of Man City‘s rivals, this could be seen as either a positive or negative development.

On one hand, it could present Guardiola with an unwanted rebuild both in his playing squad and his staff; on the other, it could replicate Alex Ferguson’s approach at Man United of regularly refreshing his backroom.

The hope will be that this leads to a loss of stability at the Etihad, at a time when the club are under investigation by the Premier League over 115 financial charges.

That may prove wishful thinking, of course – after all, Man City have already replaced Gundogan with Mateo Kovacic and stand to spend heavily again this summer.