Man City chief Txiki Begiristain to leave club as 'agreement reached' for replacement
Txiki Begiristain, Manchester City's director of football, is poised to leave the Premier League champions at the end of the season having stayed in his role longer than planned
by Samuel Meade · The MirrorManchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain is set to leave the club at end of this season.
The Spaniard had planned to step back from day-to-day operations when he turned 55 but was so invested in the City project that he extended that to his 60th birthday, reports the Athletic.
City are understood to have reached an agreement to appoint a replacement, who is due to start in early 2025. There is no early indication as to who it may be with the Manchester outfit benefitting from having a hierarchy who knew each other previously with current CEO Ferran Soriano working with Begiristain at Barcelona.
Begiristain worked as technical director at Barcelona from 2008 to 2010, when Pep Guardiola made the Catalans arguably the greatest club side in the world. Begiristain was influential in convincing Guardiola to move to Manchester back in 2016.
His enjoyment at working alongside the City boss was also a reason he opted to remain in his role longer than originally planned.
Guardiola has previously lavished praise on his director of football, who has been by his side throughout his success in the Premier League. He said: "Txiki has been massively important at this club. He was here before I arrived and was stable in the club. He has been really important in these years and part of the enormous success we’ve had in terms of results and many things, he has been so important.
"I do ask him to take responsibility with the media, talk a bit, but he’s so shy. He wants to be behind the scenes so all the shots and the weapons are directed to me. But it was the same in Barcelona. He's a close friend and we’ve known each other 25 or 30 years. He’s calm and that balance helps us work perfectly together."
Several of City's rivals have recently undergone hierarchal reshuffles. Manchester United bought in the highly-rated as Dan Ashworth as their new sporting director. Liverpool too had a major change with Michael Edwards coming back in a senior role.
Paul Mitchell, who has previously performed good work at Tottenham and then Monaco, has recently been hired by Newcastle. Atletico Madrid’s Andrea Berta and Cristiano Giuntoli at Juventus are names around Europe with a strong reputation.
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