Guardiola s self-revolution: 130 million blood exchange + dismantling the "big three" + embracing the genes of the dead enemy!

Manchester City is undergoing a real lineup reshuffle, which may even evolve into a revolution. Guardiola is opening the 3.0 era under his rule, which may be fundamentally different from the previous two eras. This is not just the alternation of new and old on the court and the joining of new players, but also major changes in the management and coaching staff off the court.

The new sports director took office - Amorin's close friend replaced Guardiola's close friend

Guardiola welcomed him with an old friend from Barcelona. Soriano, CEO of the City Football Group project, joined Barcelona with Laporta in 2003 and left in 2008 due to differences. Since 2012, he has been a member of Manchester City. One of Soriano's key decisions was to appoint Begiristan as sports director. Vegilistan once formed a team for Rijcard and helped build Guardiola's Barcelona team that won 14 championships. It was also him who brought Guardiola to Manchester City and formed the "Big Three Catalonia" (Soriano Begiristan Guardiola) that built one of the most dominant teams in Premier League history. Now, one of them has left. According to official information, Begilistan stepped down as sports director in the summer of 2025, and the last transfer window he handled was the winter window that had just passed. The transfer operation between Reindez and Serki is under the responsibility of Portuguese Ugo Viana. Begiristan was not swept out, he had planned to leave. In addition to Viana, Girona's Quique Cassel was also considered, but eventually chose the Portuguese.

Viana played for Newcastle in the Premier League and Valencia in La Liga, and played for the Portuguese national team. In 2002, he was even awarded the Best Young Player in Europe, and Bobby Robson personally recruited him to Newcastle. After finishing his player career in the UAE, Ugo has chosen the path of managers and is quite successful. He first worked for the Berens and then joined the Portuguese Sports. During his time at Portugal Sports, Viana completed several top deals.

During his tenure, Portugal Sports won the championship, and as sports director, he helped the team win two more championships. He has introduced team core teams such as Diormand, Ugat, Rafinia, and Morten Hulmand. His heavy moves include Bruno Fernandez, Ugat, Mattus Nunes and Pedro Polo.

His most beautiful move was to hire coach Amorin, who had fought side by side in Braga. Viana firmly believed the coach, who was only 34 years old at the time, and persuaded the board to pay a 10 million euro termination fee to poach him.

The Athletic sources said they had a very close relationship in the club: "Ugo provides and solves everything for him (Amorin). He is his right-hand man. Their relationship is so close." However, now, the two are in the opposing camp in Manchester, adding another layer of highlight to the Manchester City Derby.

Guardiola's mentor left the team, and former Klopp's assistant coach joined

Another revolutionary move is that Guardiola is replacing his assistant coaching team. Juanma Lelo, Dominguez and Wiesen left the club before the Club World Cup. Leo's departure marked a paradigm shift in Manchester City's game style, as Guardiola regarded Leo as his mentor and had traveled to Mexico to play under his command.

Lelo left Manchester City in 2022 and went to Alsade to coach independently, but returned later. Last season, players complained many times about Guardiola's coaching team lacked communication with them, and assistant coaches did little to explain the coach's philosophy.

Lelo and Dominguez expire, and Vessen will coach Braga. The most shocking thing is Linders' joining, who was Klopp's assistant coach at Liverpool. Linders joined the Reds coaching staff during Rodgers's time, but he was only truly shining under Klopp. He has tried to be the head coach independently at the Netherlands NEC Nemegan, but it is not very successful. Linders proved to be an ideal assistant coach, and Arteta had hoped he would join Arsenal but failed to make it.

The Dutch coached at Eindhoven's youth training camp and then went to Porto. At Porto Academic College, he coached Joao Felix and Neves. At Liverpool, he tapped Arnold's potential in the midfield and even compared him to Pirlo.

Interestingly, when Klopp was under his command, Linders focused on positional play, making the team's style closer to Guardiola's style. Now at Manchester City, his task is just the opposite, and he needs to inject more Klopp-style aggressiveness and high-pressure into the team.

If anyone can do this, it must be him, because Linders wrote the book "Intensity", which elaborated on Liverpool's game principles. Many had expected him to replace Klopp, but Linders chose the less stressed Red Bull of Salzburg, where he struggled to lead the team.

In addition, James French, who served as a Liverpool analyst from 2012 to 2025, has joined the coaching staff and will focus on set pieces research. Manchester City also expects Khloe Toure (formerly responsible for youth training) to turn his focus to the first team.

Guardiola is aware that his team's style of play is no longer revolutionary or cutting-edge, and may even be outdated to some extent, and therefore lags behind the trend. He was impressed by Paris Saint-Germain’s work on the court, so the new coaching team aims to increase the intensity of the game, achieve full-time oppression, and improve set-piece offense and defense.

Manchester City's new and old alternating between old and new - "slimming" with the Club World Cup

team's defense line and midfield are also facing the alternating between old and new. De Bruyne's departure, coupled with the gradual decline in form of Bernardo Silva and Gundogan, forced the team to rebuild their playing style. Two "Pep" (Guardiola and Linders) still have time to decide which Manchester City players will leave in the summer. The transfer revolution began in the January winter window led by Begiristan, but the experienced Basque man was more like a payday drunk person, buying people regardless of price tags. This is very unlike the style of Begiristan, and so far only Marmush has been successfully integrated. In contrast, the signings in summer window are much more rational and pragmatic. Instead of chasing Wilz, Manchester City focused on signing Reindez and Sherky, who had a good opportunity to get a starting position immediately. They also signed Ait Nuri, one of the best left-backs in the Premier League. The total cost of the three was 130 million euros, which was lower than a potential transfer fee of a Werz.

Guardiola is using the Club World Cup group stage to decide which players can stay in the team for this season and which will leave the team, because the team's current lineup is too bloated. "I hope the existing players can play all seasons, I like it."

"Otherwise they will be unhappy, frustrated, disappointed, I don't want that. For me (large roster) is not a problem; I can choose from more players, but I don't like seeing five, six or seven players stay at home (not on the roster).

"I'm not doing this for myself, but for them. So we need to see how things go. We still have time before the transfer window is closed, let's see," Guardiola said.

With the departure of De Bruyne and Gallish (who will likely not play for Manchester City next season), the cleaning of Manchester City is far from over. The Club World Cup in the United States will be a "squid game" for many on the team, and some will have to be eliminated.