Everything you need to know about Carlos Vicens, a crucial cog in the Manchester City coaching team.
Pep Guardiola is the man in charge of Manchester City and, as a result, he often gets the bulk of the credit for the club’s remarkable success.
The manager is now into his ninth season in charge at the Etihad Stadium and has won every trophy there is to win.
However, he would be the first to tell you that it’s a team effort and he would not have enjoyed such success if not for the fantastic coaching team he has around him.
A key – but under-appreciated outside of City’s walls – component of that team is Carlos Vicens, but his impact on the side is becoming much more renowned.
Who exactly is Vicens? Well, here is all you need to know about City’s secret weapon.
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How old is Carlos Vicens
Juan Carlos Vicens Gomez was born in Colonia Sant Jordi, Ses Salines, Mallorca, Spain, on February 12, 1983. As of February 2025, he is 42 years old.
Twitter/X and Instagram accounts
Vicens does appear to have an official X, formerly Twitter account, @CarlosVicensG, but he has not made a post since 2021.
He does not appear to have a public Instagram account.
What is Carlos Vicens’ job at Man City?
Vicens first joined City in July 2017 and worked with the Under-13s in his first year before moving up to serve as assistant to the Under-18s manager Gareth Taylor for two years. He took charge from Taylor when he took the Women’s job.
Vicens excelled in the role. Not only did he help develop the likes of Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Tommy Doyle and James McAtee, who have all played significant Premier League football, but he guided the youngsters to success, too.
City’s Under-18s claimed the prestigious FA Youth Cup and were crowned Premier League U18 Champions in the 2020-21 season. Vicens’ great work didn’t go unnoticed and he was promoted to Guardiola’s team working with the seniors in the summer of 2021.
Though his official title is Assistant Coach, Vicens’ speciality is working on set pieces with the team and he had an immediate impact upon his promotion.
City scored from 21 set pieces in the 2021/22 season and conceded just once, the best goal difference from deadball scenarios in the Premier League’s history.
City nearly lost Vicens in 2022 when he agreed to become manager of Dutch side Heracles Almelo but their relation from the Eredivisie and changes at boardroom level saw him change his mind.
Nico-Jan Hoogma, the Dutch club’s director of technical affairs, said at the time: “We have discussed extensively with Carlos the situation that has arisen after the club’s relegation.
“From both sides we felt doubts. We have to do everything we can to let Heracles Almelo return to the Eredivisie and we need all the focus for that.
“Carlos was given the opportunity to return to Manchester City and we do not want to deprive him of that.”
Vicens remains with City to this day and is still helping the club score from free-kicks and corners.
Praise for Carlos Vicens
Guardiola has often praised Vicens and spoke of the importance of replacing a coach of his quality when it appeared he was leaving in 2022.
“Of course it’s important, he said on a set-piece coach. “The taker is vital – we have strong players and Carlos made it easy, we believe we have the spaces. The second goal was inspiration from Kevin [De Bruyne] and [Ilkay] Gundo[gan].”
Guardiola also complimented Vicens, and first-team analyst Jack Wilson, for the work he did in devising a free-kick routine Julian Alvarez scored from against Burnley in January 2024.
“Today set pieces are really important. We won the FA Cup against Spurs from a corner and today Carlos and Jack prepared,” he said.
“I’m not involved in set-pieces because the other ones are better and I don’t have time and we are preparing things and corners, like every team.
“It’s not that we are different to other teams but we prepared this free-kick and it worked. Kevin had to make the perfect pass and Julian the movement. Someone had the idea to do this so all credit to Carlos and Jack.”
City scored from another set piece when John Stones nodded in the controversial winner against Wolves in the Premier League. The work City have done to improve on set pieces was highlighted by the defender.
“We have been trying super hard to improve our set pieces and make the most of them. Today was a new focus and attitude towards them,” Stones said.
“Hopefully this is the start of many more. It is a vital part of the game at both ends of the pitch and really pleasing for me personally to get the winner after such a difficult game.”
Speaking on Sky Sports News’ ref watch, Stephen Warnock also praised the ingenuity of the routine.
He said: “As the corner comes in, Bernardo Silva is onside because you can’t be offside. He’s got every right to make contact with Sa. He’s trying to upset Sa in that situation. But he’s so clever. He’s so alive to the situation.
“It’s brilliant from whoever sets the corners up, because Bernando Silva is arguably the smallest player on the pitch, so he knows he’s not going to be in the eyeline. But Bernardo Silva is so clever, nudges him, then just steps out and ducks down and it’s so simple because now he’s out of the game.
“He’s not active, he’s not involved, he’s not really in the eye-line, and he’s not affecting what Sa does.
“It’s really clever. It’s so so clever. I spoke to Tim Howard about it yesterday and he was like ‘it’s a goal’.
“Ex-goalkeeper, who said it’s so smart. But now what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to get another player in front of the goalkeeper to shift that player out of the way and stop them having that impact. Or your keeper comes and deals with the situation.”
Vicens playing career and move into coaching
Vicens journey in football started at the top team in the Balearic Islands, Real Mallorca, but his promising start failed to blossom into a professional playing career.
Instead, Vicens juggled playing semi-professionally in Spain’s lower leagues and studying for a degree in economics.
His higher education gave him the chance to move to Texas for the final year of his studies where he played for the Austin Aztecs. After turning down the chance to play for another season in the USA, Vicens hung up his boots at just 27 due to a knee injury.
But, it meant he could turn his attention to coaching and he accepted the manager role at eighth-tier side CD Ses Salines, where he won successive league titles and a third promotion in his final season.
Then Vicens jumped up to the Spanish fourth tier with former club CE Santanyi, a club mired in financial trouble but yet one he nearly guided to promotion but lost in the play-off final.
While Santanyi didn’t move up, Vicens did and he became assistant manager at third-tier side CD Llosetense. Throughout his sojourn as a coach in Spain’s lower leagues, Vicens was also working as an economics teacher.
After two years at Llosetense, Vicens got his dream move to City where his stock has continued to rise and rise while also going on to attain two more degrees.
Vicens told City’s official website: “The education for a coach never finishes and I’ve always been really interested in developing and learning.”
