Manchester City duo attracting loan interest as Hugo Viana trims Pep Guardiola’s squad | OneFootball

A number of Manchester City first-team stars have attracted interest from Girona for a potential loan next season as newly-appointed sporting director Hugo Viana progresses a squad rebuild.

After a sub-standard 2024-25 campaign that saw the Blues record their lowest Premier League points tally under Pep Guardiola, City have let Kevin De Bruyne and Scott Carson leave at the end of their respective contracts.

Kyle Walker has also joined Burnley for a permanent deal that could be worth £5 million. The 35-year-old spent the second half of the previous season on loan at AC Milan and has now joined forces with former Tottenham teammate Scott Parker at Turf Moor.

Manchester City are also poised to see James McAtee leave on a permanent deal amid interest from Germany. The 22-year-old captained the England U-21s to European Championship glory last month and after struggling for consistent game-time under Guardiola last term, McAtee wants to leave his boyhood club for regular first-team football.

Viana has wasted no time in kickstarting a new era at the Etihad Stadium after replacing Txiki Begiristain as sporting director, playing a key role in the acquisition of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki so far in this window.

Manchester City have acted early and secured most of their key targets in time for pre-season, with many of the new arrivals also impressing at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States last month, where the Blues recorded a disappointing Round of 16 finish and were knocked out by Joao Cancelo and Al-Hilal.

City, who left Walker out of the Club World Cup squad, also expect Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish to find new clubs ahead of the new season as they look to trim their wage bill and streamline a bloated squad that has witnessed eight additions for just under £300 million since January.

Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush were all brought in as emergency signings midway through last season as Guardiola was confronted with a severe injury crisis that forced the board to address their personnel issues in January.

Núria Vilamala of Què T’hi Jugues is reporting that City Football Group club Girona are eyeing a possible loan swoop for one of Manchester City’s Vitor Reis or Claudio Echeverri as the summer transfer window progresses.

Reis has struggled for minutes since his January arrival and is viewed as a long-term prospect by the Manchester City board, who are expected to sanction at least one departure from their long list of current centre-halves before the new season begins.

Echeverri, 19, joined in from River Plate in January and was handed his debut as a substitute in Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final in May. The young Argentine made quite an impression off the bench and nearly equalised to mark what would have been a dream debut in sky blue.

A season-long loan has been mooted for Reis though Guardiola considers the Brazilian part of his plans for the seasons to come. Echeverri, who scored his first Manchester City goal from a free-kick in June, will also face stiff competition for minutes. A loan move to Girona is reportedly considered more likely for Reis than Echeverri as things stand.