Sporting Lisbon director Hugo Viana is reportedly now the leading candidate to replace Txiki Begiristain at Manchester City, but it has also emerged that he turned down the chance to move to Newcastle United in the summer.
Viana has done hugely impressive work during his time at Sporting, unearthing some fine young talents and strengthening the team really well with a number of players they can probably go on to sell for a considerable profit later on.
While it’s a blow for Man City to lose an experienced and influential figure like Begiristain, Viana looks like he could be an ideal replacement, with Fabrizio Romano posting about the situation last night…
Hugo Viana a leading candidate for Manchester City, says Fabrizio Romano
?? EXCLUSIVE: Sporting director of football Hugo Viana is Manchester City’s favorite candidate to replace Txiki Begiristain.
After excellent work at Sporting with several top signings including Gyokeres, Diomandé, Hjulmand and more, he’s top of #MCFC list as new director. pic.twitter.com/SUfIp0WnLI
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 8, 2024
Further details from TBR Football state that Viana was also targeted by Newcastle in the summer, though he snubbed an approach from his former club, where he spent some time as a player.
Magpies fans will no doubt be disappointed that they couldn’t land this intelligent recruitment expert to boost their own work in the transfer market, and it’s a double blow if he’s now going to end up at one of their Premier League rivals before too long.
Still, City are one of the biggest clubs in the world right now and it makes sense that their offer might be more tempting for someone like Viana, who would no doubt relish the chance to work with Pep Guardiola and make use of the vast resources he’d surely have at his disposal at the Etihad Stadium.
Viana will have big shoes to fill if he does end up replacing Begiristain, however, as the City chief has done such superb work down the years to help Guardiola turn the club into such a force in world football.
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