Manchester City appointing Hugo Viana as their new sporting director has ‘raised whispers’ over deals for Barcelona star Lamine Yamal and a possible replacement for Rodri.
Viana will replace Txiki Begiristain at the end of the season and he’s got big shoes to fill when he arrives at the Etihad.
Begiristain has been at City since 2012, played an important role in convincing Pep Guardiola to come to the Etihad in 2016 after he had been on a sabbatical and has been the major force behind building the Spaniard the squad that has dominated English football for the last decade.
Viana arrives with an excellent reputation of his own after his stellar work at Sporting Lisbon, for whom he signed a number of top players including Raphinha, Viktor Gyokeres, Morten Hjulmand and Ousmane Diomande.
That track record appealed to City, who may also have been attracted by what is Viana’s ‘close relationship with super-agent Jorge Mendes’, according to the Daily Mail.
Gestifute – the agency founded by Mendes – already looks after City stars Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes, but he also looks after a wide array of star players who could be of interest to Pep Guardiola, or a new boss if the legendary manager decides to step down at the end of the season.
One such star player – perhaps the star player right now – is Yamal, whose market value has soared over the last year owing to his brilliance for Barcelona and the key role he played in Spain winning Euro 2024.
It feels hugely unlikely that the Catalans would be willing to part with the winger, though their apparent obsession with bringing Erling Haaland to the club means a swap of sorts could be on the cards. Probably not though.
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A more likely move as a result of this link with Mendes would be for Joao Neves, who only moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Benfica in the summer for £60m, but has previously been rumoured to be on Manchester City’s shortlist as an alternative to Rodri, or indeed as a replacement, with the Spain international said to be the ‘dream’ signing of Florentino Perez at Real Madrid.
Fellow PSG midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery is also one of Mendes’ clients and has been linked with a move to City in the past, while Wolves’ Rayan Ait-Nouri is another player represented by the super-agent, who could give City the upper hand in their bid to beat Manchester United to the Algerian’s signature.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim is well aware of the talent Manchester City now have leading their recruitment.
“Hugo Viana has already proved several times he knows how to make magic happen,” said Amorim last summer. “[He] is indispensable. He has a fundamental role here and works like nobody else.”
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