Arsenal icon Giovanni van Bronckhorst quits Man City to become boss of Chinese club Guangzhou

GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST has ended his brief association with Manchester City to become the new boss of Guangzhou R&F.

The Chinese Super League side made the announcement on Saturday with the ex-Arsenal hero posing with a team scarf.

It sees the 44-year-old former Rangers and Barcelona star bring an end to his "access-all-areas" role at the reigning Premier League champions.

He joined Man City in the summer after he stepped down as Feyenoord boss at the end of last season.

He had spent four seasons at the Dutch club during that time he won the Eredivise championship - the club's first for nearly two decades.

He had been expected to take a year-long sabbatical, but surprisingly ended up working behind the scenes at Man City.

It's understood Van Bronckhorst took the role to get an experience of how the club - and the City Football Group in general - ran their business.

But the Dutchman has now left the Premier League giants to return to management with Guangzhou R&F.

Man City’s sister club New York City FC were believed to have earmarked the ex-midfielder as a future head coach.

However, despite working with the City Football Group all season, he has opted against replacing Domenec Torrent at the MLS outfit.

Van Bronckhorst indicated back in October that his time with Pep Guardiola's side was only ever a short term solution and that he was simply biding his time before getting back into management.

He said: "I have been to Manchester a number of times and travel a lot.

"I see new things, experience new things and continue to develop. For me, that is very beautiful at the moment.

"Ultimately, I want to be a head coach again. That is the best thing for me. This is a great interim solution."