Manchester City to appoint Sporting’s Hugo Viana as new sporting director

Former Portugal midfielder to replace Txiki BegiristainViana has overseen great success at Sporting Lisbon

Manchester City will replace outgoing sporting director, Txiki Begiristain, with Hugo Viana after agreeing a deal with his current employers, Sporting Lisbon.

The former Portugal and Newcastle midfielder is set to move to the Premier League champions early next year with City envisaging a lengthy handover period that would see Viana work alongside Begiristain before he takes over the role at the end of this season.

When it became clear that 55-year-old Begiristain was set to depart after 12 years working for City, the club embarked on an extensive search for a replacement. Viana has won many admirers for the work he has done at Sporting, helping them to win two Primeira Liga titles in his six-year spell there. Viana has become known for sourcing young talented players from around the world. He has overseen the sales of Manuel Ugarte, Matheus Nunes and Nuno Mendes in recent summers to help bring in healthy transfer fees for players.

The 41-year-old former midfielder also takes credit for bringing Rúben Amorim to the Portuguese capital from Braga. The head coach had only spent a short period in time at Braga but Viana saw him as the man to kickstart a new era at Sporting, which has indeed proved the case, with Amorim leading the club to the two Portuguese cups as well as two league titles, not to mention impressing with his style of football at home and in Europe.

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