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

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

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 going 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 at the club. Viana has become known for sourcing young talented players from around the world and has overseen the sales of Manuel Ugarte, Matheus Nunes and Nuno Mendes in recent summers for healthy fees.

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

Viana had a successful playing career with Sporting and Valencia but his time at St James’ Park was largely forgettable. After retiring, having won 29 international caps, he became sporting director at Belenenses before moving back to his boyhood club in the same capacity.

City, who are waiting to resolve the future of Pep Guardiola before his contract runs out in the summer, travel to Sporting in November for a Champions League group stage fixture that will see Viana come up against his future employers.