Man City land Sporting transfer guru Hugo Viana to replace Txiki Begiristain as director of football

Manchester City are set to appoint Sporting Lisbon’s Hugo Viana as their next sporting director.

The Premier League champions have the basis of a deal in place for the former Newcastle midfielder to succeed Txiki Begiristain, who is due to step down at the end of the season.

City, who are due to play Sporting in the Champions League on November 5, have been exploring potential replacements for Begiristain for some time and identified Viana as their leading candidate.

It is understood that City hope to have Viana in place in the early part of next year in order to smooth the transition and allow the 41-year-old to shadow Begiristain – one of the world’s most esteemed sporting directors – for a period before his departure.

Viana took over as Sporting’s director of football in 2018 and was central to the decision to bring in Ruben Amorim, under whom the Portuguese club won the league title in 2021 and last season, as head coach.

He has overseen a series of impressive transfer deals that have abetted Sporting’s rise under Amorim, who is regarded as one of the most exciting young coaches in European football.

In recent years Viana has signed the likes of Manuel Ugarte, Matheus Nunes and Pedro Porro and moved them on for large transfer fees while also selling the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Joao Palhinha for big money.

Sporting have also had success selling homegrown stars such as Nuno Mendes for substantial sums under Viana’s watch.

Telegraph Sport reported this week that Begiristain’s impending departure is not expected to unduly influence manager Pep Guardiola’a decision over his own future, despite how close the pair are personally and professionally.

Guardiola is out of contract at the end of the season but has yet to indicate whether he intends to extend his deal or leave.

The City manager has been aware of Begiristain’s plans for this season to be his last for some time and said in July that he wanted to see how the team progressed this term and the appetite of his players before making a decision on his own plans.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is likely to be prominent in City’s thinking should Guardiola opt to depart but Amorim is one of a number of managers who could come under consideration in such a scenario.

Viana made over 500 appearances in a career spanning clubs in Portugal, England, Spain and Dubai and represented Portugal on 29 occasions.

A former central midfielder, he was signed by Newcastle from Sporting for £8.5million in 2002 when Sir Bobby Robson was manager but struggled to deliver on his potential.

He made 56 appearances in his first two seasons on Tyneside before being loaned first back to Sporting and then to Valencia.

Valencia signed him permanently in 2006, with the player also having spells at Osasuna and Braga before ending his career in Dubai with Al-Ahli and Al-Wasl.

His first sporting director post was at Belenenses in 2017 before he joined Sporting the following year.