Manchester City could yet welcome Hugo Viana in February 2025, reveals Portuguese football journalist | OneFootball

Attempts to bring Hugo Viana to the Etihad Stadium from Sporting first started in late 2023, according to a new report detailing Manchester City’s pursuit of the 41-year-old.

The Premier League champions will bid farewell to their hugely successful director of football Txiki Begiristain next summer, after the Spaniard has contributed to the last 12 seasons at the Etihad Stadium and largely changed the fortunes of the entire club.

Begiristain’s negotiations over play contracts, and most important player signings, have been instrumental in building arguably the finest footballing side on the planet over the last decade in particular.

The 60-year-old was also a key figure in bringing Pep Guardiola to Manchester City in the summer of 2016, and has been able to retain the Catalan coach for much longer than expected, and particularly through to the decade mark and beyond.

But as with all good things, they must come to an end, and Begiristain feels as though his time with Manchester City must conclude next summer, with the official having also sounded out his successor in Sporting CP’s Hugo Viana.

Speaking on a recent edition of the Transfers Podcast with Duncan Castle’s, Record’s Sergio Krithinas revealed that Manchester City’s process and attempts to recruit Hugo Viana as their next sporting director started in late 2023, with first contacts made in early 2024.

In fact, such was the determination from the side of the Premier League champions to recruit the Portuguese official as their long-term successor to Txiki Begiristain that it is revealed that City first came close to an agreement over his services during the most recent summer.

Sergio Krithinas went on to reveal, “I think probably Hugo Viana will leave Sporting earlier, I think it may happen in February after the transfer window in the winter and work exclusively for Manchester City to start his process of adapting himself.”

Viana remains a close friend of newly-appointed Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, and the two will reunite in the north-west city from next summer, forming an on-field rivalry that will not break their bond outside of football.

Prior to Manchester United’s successful pursuit of the former Sporting coach, it had been mooted in various quarters that Viana could identify Amorim as his ideal name to succeed Pep Guardiola, whenever his time at City came to end.

However, there is an understanding that those within the Etihad Stadium felt as though the 39-year-old’s footballing philosophy was too different to the structure mastered by Begiristain and Guardiola, and as such Manchester City’s next head coach will be more of that vision.