Txiki Begiristain is set to leave his position as director of football at Manchester City at the end of the season, according to reports.
Begiristain took on the role in October 2012, having been in the same position at Barcelona from 2003-10, and he was widely credited with luring compatriot Pep Guardiola to City four years later.
It was Begiristain who backed Guardiola in his managerial big break at Barcelona, with the pair striking up a close friendship as team-mates at the Catalan club in the early-to-mid-1990s.
Pep Guardiola, second left, and Txiki Begiristain, right, have a close relationship (Martin Rickett/PA)
Guardiola, who took charge of City in 2016, once remarked: “If Txiki worked for Chelsea, I would probably have called Chelsea.
“When nobody else would take a risk on me, when maybe three per cent of the people at Barca believed in me, he was the one who insisted on my appointment to the first-team. None of this would have been possible without him.”
While the Athletic has reported the 60-year-old Begiristain is expected to depart the club at the end of the 2024-25, City declined to comment when contacted by the PA news agency.