City set to appoint Lillo as Guardiola’s assistant

Pep Guardiola is set to appoint his former mentor Juanma Lillo as his assistant coach at Manchester City, according to reports in the Spanish media on Friday.

City did not replace Mikel Arteta when he left his role as Guardiola’s assistant to become Arsenal manager last December, but newspapers Marca and AS said he is set to hire Lillo, who recently left Chinese Super League side Qingdao Huanghai.

Lillo, 54, has been a coach for 35 years, working as an assistant to Jorge Sampaoli with Sevilla and the Chile national team.

He has had limited success in a number of first team coaching roles at clubs including Real Sociedad, Almeria and Atletico Nacional, and in 2005 he signed Guardiola for Mexican side Dorados Sinaloa.