Hugo Viana: To-Do List at Manchester City

In the summer Manchester City is set for some big changes, whilst the future of Pep Guardiola is up in the air, the future of Txiki Begiristain is not. Hugo Viana will succeed him in the summer with the pair in contact to ensure a smooth transition.

Viana was born in Barcelos, began his youth career with Gil Vicente and by 14 he was picked up by Sporting CP. Moving through the youth teams until he broke into the senior team only a few years later. 19-year-old Viana was highly regarded as a midfielder and on 20th June 2002 made the move to Newcastle United. Unable to force his way into a starting position, he returned to Sporting CP on loan, went to Valencia on loan, and then made the move permanent in 2006. More issues persisted with making a regular starting sport as well as injuries, eventually seeing him return to Portugal with Braga for a few seasons and finishing his career in the Middle East. Playing for Al-Ahli and Al-Wasl.

After retiring in 2016, Viana took up the role of Director of Football at Belenenses but left his role six months later after having issues with his position not being respected. Accepting the same role with Sporting CP and that took him all the way through to the present. Playing a key role in convincing the board to buy out Ruben Amorim from his contract at Braga.

Hugo Viana at Sporting CP

Earlier this season when the announcement was made about Begiristain moving on I wrote a thread about his recruitment that you can find linked below. 👇

What’s quite clear when going back through the recruitment during the time of Pep Guardiola with Begiristain as Sporting Director was the phases it happened and within those phases, the condition players were arriving at the club. At Manchester City, there was groundwork laid before Guardiola arrived (15/16), a significant squad-building period across two seasons (16/17 - 17/18) which was followed by refreshes until the present. Moving on any post-peak players (29+) before you see a significant decline, although that has not happened in the last couple windows and feeds into their current issues.

For Hugo Viana coming from Sporting CP, there is no sustained period of success where you keep refreshing with a couple of names here and there. Each summer they face the possibility of selling and replacing key players at their pre-peak (21 - 23) or peak (24-28) age. Recruiting players with high potential (17 - 20). In four out of seven summer windows at Sporting, Viana has brought in over €100M in sales, and only twice have they spent more in a window than they’ve sold.

Viana has shown the willingness and capability to proactively deliver quality replacements for key players in the team for Ruben Amorim. Bringing in Manuel Ugarte to play reduced minutes behind Joao Palhinha, knowing that Amorim needed a ball-winning midfielder for his system. Once Palhinha left Ugarte stepped right into the role straight away. Once he was sold to PSG in the summer of 2023 Viana went out to buy Morten Hjulmand from Leece who impressed in Portugal slotting right into the team.

A smaller point to make is I think it’s positive that Hugo Viana has been willing to shop outside of Portugal of late for Sporting CP. Conrad Harder (19) is the replacement for Gyokeres before he’s even sold, coming from Denmark. Zeno Debast (21) has been a key player this season at CB and came from Belgium. Their left-wing Maximiliano Araujo (24) came from Mexico this summer. Replacing the goalkeeper with Vladan Kovacevic from Rakow. Last summer (23/24) they picked up Viktor Gyokeres from Coventry in the Championship and Morten Hjulmand from Lecce in Italy.

Sporting has a history under Viana of using the academy well with the likes of Geovany Quenda this season, Geny Catamo came through last season along with Dario Essugo has been very bright on loan at Las Palmas. Issahaku Fatawu came through 22/23 and now it playing for Leicester City. Goncalo Inacio came through 20/21 and is a highly-rated young CB playing for the first team. Nuno Mendes who now plays for PSG came through 19/20. Rafael Leao came through in 17/18.

Viana has taken risks on ‘rejects’ when it comes to Pedro Porro who found his feet at Sporting, developed, and earned himself a move eventually to Tottenham. Trincao struggled at Barcelona, with his loan move to Wolves not working and Sporting took the risk with him, now a key player for the team. Marcus Edwards was highly regarded as a young player who couldn’t impress anywhere on loan until he moved to Sporting.

There are a few examples of Viana successfully finding transfers for players after an initial loan spell. Pedro Porro to Spurs, eventually earning a €40M fee. Issahaku Fatawu to Leicester earning a €16.25M fee. Nuno Mendes to PSG earning a €38M fee.

Hugo Viana at Manchester City

The contract situation is an obvious problem for Hugo Viana to look at when he arrives in the summer. Now of course these decisions could be out of his hands when it comes to Gundogan and De Bruyne. I’d imagine they’ll want to continue keeping Carson around as the 4th choice keeper, extending him by a year at a time. It’s the summer to sell Bernardo, Stones, and Walker if you want to get some level of fee. James McAtee's position in the squad is up in the air until the number of minutes he gets changes. With Ederson and Ortega having only a year left in the summer, it’s much easier to change that pairing. There is good reason for either to leave, whether Ederson wants a new challenge like he spoke about last summer or Ortega wants to become a #1 elsewhere.

Viana will also free up much room on the wage bill should De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, and Walker all depart. He’ll want to ensure a balance is struck so that the dressing room is not losing too much of its leadership, but remember that Ruben Dias, Rodri, and Erling Haaland are going nowhere. Beyond that, you are looking for other players to step forward into leadership roles and it could be a factor for which players you bring in.

The age of the squad as a whole is 27.5 compared to Liverpool at 27.4, Arsenal at 26.4, and Chelsea the youngest at 23.7. They’ll want to bring it down a touch but by a lot. The issue is more about the area in the squad, the positions where players are too old. Moving on Kyle Walker for a new right-back that’s ideally 21 - 24 years of age. You will be needing two midfielders 21 - 24 years of age, looking at Gundogan and De Bruyne. Those signings will solve your age problem.

Away from those areas, Viana will have the opportunity to churn the group of central defenders. Nathan Ake (29) and John Stones (30) are not consistently available despite their undeniable quality. Jahmai Simpson-Pusey looks capable of making the step up, and Callum Doyle has had a few successful loan spells, just two options they could look at to increase the depth and freshen up that area of the pitch. Elsewhere there is the possibility of moving on Jack Grealish who will have two years left on his deal and be 30. That would open up more minutes, whether that is promoting Nunes, bringing through another youngster, or buying someone.

There are two issues that Viana must solve by the time the 25/26 season starts. There must be a genuine backup option for Erling Haaland and there must be a way to rest Rodri throughout the season without hindering the team's performance significantly.

For Erling Haaland there are a few different ways to attack that problem, you could promote from the academy (Delap), buy a promising young player (Alvarez), or look for an experienced player who wants the opportunity to play for Manchester City (Kyogo). All of which are fine and have their benefits. They could look at bringing in a winger/wide forward who can play down the middle (Rodrygo). Regardless of what way they choose to go, Viana must bring one in.  

For Rodri's cover, I would be looking for a player who can play as a six and alongside him. He scans very well, has the technical ability in tight spaces, retains the ball under pressure, and is an excellent passer of the ball. All whilst making sure that the player is valuable to the team out of possession. Comfortable sitting deep outside the block, controlling the tempo, and picking their moments. That is pass first not carry first. That will win ground duels, compete in the air, recover loose balls/second balls, and so on. I don’t think you can afford to compromise on in-possession vs out-of-possession.

The must-buy in the summer is a right-back to replace Kyle Walker. He’ll need to find someone capable of taking over a huge volume of minutes similar to what Gvardiol did when arriving last year. It frees up Rico Lewis to play in midfield. There will be a newsletter coming soon to go through all of the options at RB. Pedro Porro, Malo Gusto, and Livramento are all standout options in the Premier League but whether they can be bought is another question. Jeremie Frimpong has long been linked to the club, and Lutsharel Geertruida is another right-back in the Bundesliga. I quite like Javi Rodriguez and Arnau Martinez both playing in La Liga. Martim Fernandes and Geovany Quenda coming through in Portugal. There are options out there but they are either with some risk or going to be expensive. Regardless, it’s a position Viana needs to sort out as quickly as possible in the summer.

Now I’ve left out midfield from being a must-buy right now until we see what Manchester City do in the January window. They need a midfielder, ideally two in that window. From there we can gauge what the summer will require. Right now it looks like you do not have a midfielder capable of covering for Rodri, Kovacic is doing his best but it is beyond his skill set, you have not properly replaced Ilkay Gundogan, and soon you will need to replace the creative force that is Kevin De Bruyne.

The continued injury struggles of Nathan Ake and John Stones open up the window to replace one of them in the summer window, and there are plenty of great options across Europe. Murillo and Branthwaite are just two of those in the Premier League. The other area that is an option to churn is the left wing with Jack Grealish and his ongoing struggles from last season into this one, you cannot afford to have your third highest earner not delivering consistent minutes let alone other performance metrics. Savinho (20), Doku (22), and Bobb (21) are all young options out wide, so Viana could look for a player at their peak who will deliver consistent goal contributions. Kvaratskhelia and Rodrygo are the two standout options for that but there are many more when you look into it with Mitoma, Kudus, and Eze just in the Premier League.

The players on loan need to be looked out. Callum Doyle could be our answer to provide Gvardiol LB rotation throughout the season as well as a backup option as an LCB. Maximo Perrone is having an excellent loan spell as a deep-lying playmaker for Como in Serie A. Claudio Echeverri is one of the highest-rated South America prospects, arrives in January, and could be ready for the first team or needs a loan. Plenty of decisions to be made there.

The use of Academy at Sporting CP needs to continue into Manchester City, who have regularly brought through one player each season. Oscar Bobb (23/24), Rico Lewis (22/23), Cole Palmer (21/22), Eric Garcia (19/20), and Phil Foden (18/19). I’d like to see CFA players continue to be integrated into the first team. As mentioned before, the success Viana had at Sporting with finding good spots to loan a player to before getting a big fee sets him up well for what will be required in the academy for several players who are not good enough for the first team but can succeed at the top level elsewhere.

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey looks to be the real deal in my opinion and I’d like to see him across the season continue to get chances, eventually earning that promotion to being a first-team player.

Nico O’Reilly and Jacob Wright from the U21s are both around the first team right now, looking to get minutes in the cup matches. Both midfielders could solve our current issues in the middle of the pitch over time. Charlie Gray is another. The winger Farid Alfa-Ruprecht made the bench against Spurs in the League Cup.

In the U18s team right now you have several promising players. Ryan McAidoo joined in the summer from Chelsea, the 16-year-old is a winger who will beat his man 1v1, score goals, and create around the box. Midfielder Harrison Miles joined from Southampton this summer. Kaden Braithwaite who we saw play for the first team against Watford. Stephen Mfuni is another CB who went out on a pre-season tour with the first team. Divine Mukasa as a goal-scoring midfielder has impressed me a lot. Reigan Heskey has been scoring a lot of goals playing across the front line for the U18s and U21s.

Marlow Barrett who has recently joined City Youth from Coventry is in the mould of Levi Colwill as a CB. Xavier Parker a midfielder joining from West Ham, an attacking midfielder in the style of Eberechi Eze. Two of the best U15s in England.

The point is that there is plenty of talent in the academy that is ready to be used or on its way through the tenure of Hugo Viana he’ll always have options in the academy and it shouldn’t be wasted. If Simpson-Pusey was playing for Dortmund he’d cost you 50M+ to buy but instead, you can integrate the player coming through your academy, who is good enough.

Choosing a new manager could be the first task on his to-do list this summer or it could be delayed to a future year, we don’t know until a confirmation is made about the future of Pep Guardiola. Hopefully, that comes soon. But for now, that is a huge task for Hugo Viana to take on given how much it shapes the future of the club. The positive outlook is that Viana was in this position with Sporting when he took the risk of hiring Ruben Amorim.

Now this isn’t all to say Hugo Viana needs to come in, spend a billion pounds, and bring in ten different players. Everything included above is on his to-do list and whether they are problems this summer or next, Viana must eventually deal with them. He needs to know whether Guardiola is extending or not ASAP to start planning his route in the summer.

Replacing Kyle Walker, providing a backup to Erling Haaland, solving how to rotate Rodri, and ensuring the midfield has been rebuilt with athleticism, technical quality, and physicality are essential across this January and Summer transfer window.

Second to that group is to look at making a change in your group of central defenders, moving one on for another as well as promoting an academy player. Whether you make an upgrade on Jack Grealish for a more consistently available and performing player, tackling a lack of goal threat from the current group of wide attackers, which very well may change during the season.

Contracts are spread out so the decision on De Bruyne and Gundogan is likely already made by the summer either way. The future of Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Ortega, McAtee, and Stones is up next.

Across his tenure, Viana needs to ensure the Academy is utilized.

What do you think should be on Hugo Viana’s To Do list?

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