Manchester City Choose Txiki

Manchester City have appointed former Barcelona technical director Txiki Begiristain as their director of football in a management restructure.

The 48-year-old will oversee player recruitment, previously the remit of football administrator Brian Marwood.

Former Arsenal winger Marwood has moved to a new role as managing director of the club's football academy.

Begiristain worked at Barcelona from 2008 to 2010 with new City chief executive Ferran Soriano.

City manager Roberto Mancini publically expressed his frustrations at City's transfer policy during the summer transfer window.

Marwood's new role is involved with City's new youth development and first team training facility, which the club want operational for the start of the 2013/14 season.

"Given the scale and importance of this challenge, we want to commit our very best people to it," Soriano announced on the club's official website .

"I am delighted that Brian Marwood will take leadership of the CFA initiative and I am equally very pleased to welcome an individual of Txiki Begiristain's calibre to the club.

"I have no doubt that together, and in support of Roberto Mancini and the wider football club, they will be a formidable team."

Begiristain's playing career began with Real Sociedad before he moved to Barcelona in 1988. Capped 22 times by Spain, he ended his career with Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan after a spell with Deportivo La Coruna.

Following his retirement Begiristain worked as a television pundit before he returned to the Nou Camp as technical director in 2003.

Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry and David Villa were among the players recruited while Begiristain was with Barcelona. He also maintained the club's youth programme, with Sergio Busquets one of several young players successfully moving into the first team.

Begiristain left Barcelona on the same day that Joan Laporta stepped down as club president in June 2010.

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Txiki Talks Pep and Mourinho

Txiki Begiristain told Revista that Pep Guardiola's innate knowledge of Barcelona makes him the perfect man to lead the Spanish giants.

Catalonia native Guardiola was a pivotal figure in Barca's midfield between 1990 -2001 and has enjoyed tremendous success since stepping up from B team boss to first-team coach in 2008.

The 41-year-old has guided his charges to 13 major honours, including three consecutive La Liga crowns, two Champions League titles and a couple of Club World Cups.

Barca's former director of football, Begiristain, admits that current Real Madrid chief Jose Mourinho, who will lock horns with Guardiola in Saturday's El Clasico, was considered for the Camp Nou hot-seat four years ago.

But says the Portuguese lost out due to Guardiola's familiarity with the club's footballing culture and his rapport with the often cut-throat Barcelona press.

Begiristain said: "Pep was a very good player for us. He came from the grass roots, so it was easier for him to understand the system and philosophy we needed to win games.

"We decided he could be a good coach for a big team and after one year we could see how he managed the team, with style and improving on the system we imposed under (predecessor) Frank Rijkaard.

"He knew Barcelona perfectly and had a relationship with the media, so he had a little bit of an advantage over Jose Mourinho."

Mourinho's Real Madrid outfit head into the Camp Nou Clasico top of La Liga and four points clear of their illustrious rivals Barcelona.

Begiristain admits that Los Blancos have the players in their ranks to hurt his former side, but says the men from the Spanish capital will have to catch their hosts on the break in order to win the match and consolidate their grip on this term's title.

"The only way they (Real) can approach the game, and win it, is to play on the counter attack," said the ex-Barcelona winger.

And on Mourinho's selection dilemmas, Begiristain added: "Real have better players now with Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria coming back fit, and Karim Benzema, but Mourinho has to decide which midfielders to put in.

"Does he play defensive ones like Lassana Diarra, Sami Khedira and Xabi Alonso, or the likes of Mesut Ozil and Kaka? It is a big decision for Mourinho."

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