Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter by email with the day's key headlines and transfer news Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Manchester City are preparing for life after Pep Guardiola after giving Dutch coach Giovanni van ­Bronckhorst an access-all-areas role at the club.

Van Bronckhorst, 44, has spent the last month working behind the scenes at the Etihad after being persuaded by City chiefs to ditch his plan to take a one-year sabbatical following his decision to step down as boss of Feyenoord at the end of last season.

The Premier League champions have claimed that their relationship with the former Barcelona , Arsenal and Rangers midfielder is an informal arrangement designed to help him further develop his expertise.

But Sunday Mirror Sport understands that City approached Van Bronckhorst – who has signed a contract that has put him on the payroll.

The plan is for him to remain in Manchester if it proves a good fit.

(Image: Getty Images)

Guardiola’s contract with City expires in the summer of 2021.

And after seeing rivals Manchester United flounder in the six years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the Spanish executives who run the club for Sheikh Mansour want to put a succession plan in place.

Van Bronckhorst will spend the next year getting to know the inner workings of the club that has become the dominant force in English football over the last decade.

He is currently working alongside close friend Brian Marwood, City’s highly-influential Football Administration Officer.

And the Dutchman has already become so immersed in the club that he has been staying in one of the four-star-standard rooms at the £200million City Football Academy.

Van Bronckhorst is being given an insight into how the club operates at boardroom level as well as the workings of City’s extensive scouting network and the club’s coaching set-up from academy level upwards.

(Image: NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX)

He will also be shown the commercial side of a business that is expected to announce turnover in excess of £600million when the latest financial figures are announced in the coming days.

It is certainly not a done deal that Van Bronckhorst will succeed Guardiola when the Catalan departs the Etihad.

City handed former midfielder Patrick Vieira a similar brief when he retired as a player after the 2011 FA Cup final.

The Frenchman began by shadowing then-chief executive Garry Cook before moving into coaching with the youth and EDS teams.

Vieira was then handed the job of managing sister club New York City, but decided to leave the City Football Group when French Ligue 1 club Nice approached him last year.

Mikel Arteta has impressed three seasons spent working alongside Guardiola, while former captain Vincent Kompany would be an ideal candidate to become City boss if he is able to overcome the early problems he is facing as player-manager of Anderlecht.

(Image: VI-Images via Getty Images)

But Van Bronckhorst has some powerful allies at the Etihad – including Guardiola.

The pair first met when the Dutchman joined Barcelona from Arsenal in 2003.

Guardiola was winding down his own playing career at the time, with Italian club Brescia and then Al Ahli in Doha, but he got to know Van Bronkhorst as he helped Barca win the La Liga title and then the Champions League.

The pair spent some time discussing their shared love of the philosophy laid down at the Nou Camp by Johan Cruyff when Guardiola’s City faced Van Bronckhorst’s Feyenoord in the Champions League in 2017.

City chief executive Feran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain also got to know the Dutchman during his time at the Nou Camp.

Both men – alongside club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak – are the king makers at the Etihad.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

All of them were hugely impressed with the job Van Bronckhorst did after taking over at his hometown club Feyenoord in March 2015 after first working as Ronald Koeman’s assistant.

He led the Rotterdam giants to the Eredivisie title in 2017 and also lifted the Dutch Cup twice.

That was despite working on a shoestring budget that limited him to a £12.5million annual spend on wages for both the first-team and reserve-team squads.

That works out at £240,000-a-week – less than what City stars Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are paid individually.

Last season, Feyenoord finished third in the table – but Van Bronckhorst was still able to inflict a crushing 6-2 defeat on bitter rivals and eventual champions Ajax.

As a player, Van Bronckhorst won titles in Scotland, England and Spain - and also captained Holland in the 2010 World Cup Final.