It was a small earthquake that shook Manchester City. After 12 years at the club, we learned this week that Txiki Begiristain, architect of the success and continued domination of the Cityzens for almost a decade, was going to leave the club at the end of the season. But it did not take long before doubts about the identity of his successor were removed. Quickly, the name of the sporting director of Sporting Portugal, Hugo Viana, surfaced, and the latest information from the British press even agrees that the 41-year-old Portuguese will don his new costume from June.
An express rise for the former Portuguese international (29 caps between 2001 and 2012), whose playing career only ended in 2016, after three last lucrative stints in the United Arab Emirates. 11 months later, in May 2017, he was appointed sporting director of Belenenses, a modest Portuguese D1 club, then returned to Sporting, the club of his childhood, in November of the same year. And so it was there, more than 15 years after delighting the Portuguese public as a player, that Viana was able to build a solid reputation as a leader.
Very big moves to his credit in the transfer window
If Sporting can be proud of having recorded more than 200 million euros in profits over the past 5 years on its sales, it can give thanks to its architect, who initiated a bold policy on the transfer market, with an emphasis focused on the most promising young players. Among his big moves: Manuel Ugarte, sold to PSG for more than 60 million in 2023, Pedro Porro, sold to Tottenham for 40 million, a year after paying 8 to snatch him from… Manchester City, or even Matheus Nunes, which he should therefore find with the Skyblues five years after having recovered him for a pittance at Estoril (€950,000, and he had been sold for €47 million to Wolverhampton).
For Ligue 1 fans, he is also behind the sales of Raphinha to Rennes in 2020, or more recently of Nuno Mendes, to PSG. Regarding the recruitment of Viktor Gyokeres, dislodged from Coventry in 2022 for around twenty million euros, this success should be put to his credit in the same way. Next summer, it wouldn’t be crazy to imagine the Swede flying off to other skies for a nine-figure sum… While waiting, also, to know how much the Goncalo Inacio attraction, the promising Ousmane Diomandé, the now confirmed captain Morten Hjulmand, or even the executioner of LOSC, Zino Debast.
His duet with Amorim worked wonders
Obviously, this recruitment strategy has also allowed Sporting to combine economic profitability and sporting success in recent years. Because since 2020, a year which coincides with the daring appointment of Ruben Amorim as coach – he was ousted from Braga for the significant sum of 10 million euros while he had only managed 13 matches – the club Portuguese has regained heights that were once its own. In 2021, the “Leões” thus ended a drought of 19 years without a Portuguese champion title, before being crowned again last summer. It would also be an offense to Portuguese football to forget the 6 other national trophies won since 2019.
Thanks to his sprawling network woven during his years spent at Newcastle and Valencia, Viana should bring his expertise in European championships to Manchester City. His perfect knowledge of the Portuguese market also fits into this framework, while the English club has recently discovered an appetite for Portuguese, or Liga Portugal, talent. Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Ederson, and more recently Matheus Nunes have joined the reigning four-time English champion. While waiting, who knows, the arrival of Ruben Amorim to succeed Pep Guardiola in the future.
