Manchester City’s new Director of Football Hugo Viana is ‘like a brother’ to one potential Pep Guardiola successor | OneFootball

The relationship between Manchester City’s incoming Director of Football, Hugo Viana and a potential managerial successor at the Etihad Stadium is very strong.

Manchester City confirmed over the weekend that after a stellar 12-year period in the role of Director of Football at the Etihad Stadium, Txiki Begiristain would be stepping back from his position in 2025.

The 60-year-old is widely credited for structuring some of the very best squads in football history at the Etihad Stadium, and his work alongside Pep Guardiola has been integral in the finest period in the club’s history.

However, having first considered reducing his workload five years ago, a decision has been mutually agreed between Manchester City, Begiristain, and those at the very top of the club’s decision-making board that the end of the 2025/26 season will see him depart his position.

That will see Sporting CP’s successful Director of Football Hugo Viana come into the club, initially on a six-month introductory period to ease the transition whilst working alongside Begiristain, before taking on the full-time reigns from the summer of 2025.

The arrival of Viana into the Etihad Stadium project has naturally led to links between the reigning Premier League champions and Sporting’s head coach, who has been similarly successful with the Portuguese giants through multiple title-winning season.

According to the information of The Athletic’s Sam Lee, Sporting CP’s head coach Ruben Amorim and the club’s Manchester City-bound sporting director Hugo Viana have a ‘very close working relationship’.

In fact, sources who know the pair, as relayed by The Athletic’s report, say they are like brothers in what will no doubt be a key indicator towards the duo working together once again in future, particularly if Pep Guardiola was to leave the Etihad Stadium any time soon.

It is also highlighted that in the case of Ruben Amorim, the hugely successful 39-year-old Sporting coach has a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave the Primeira Liga giants next summer.

Unsurprisingly, it is made clear that if Pep Guardiola says to Manchester City that he wants to stay, then he will of course stay. Should that not be the case, then the search for a new manager will ‘ramp up several notches’.

For now, it remains to be seen what Pep Guardiola will decide when it comes to his own future at the Etihad Stadium, however one potential route to be ruled out in the last few days is the role of England men’s national team manager.

With the understanding being that the Catalan received ‘informal contact’ from the Football Association during the summer months, England will now be coached by former Bayern Munich and Chelsea coach, Thomas Tuchel.

Manchester City retain their stance of handing Pep Guardiola as much time as possible to make a decision on his future, given the success he has brought the football club since his arrival in the summer of 2016.