Manchester City intensify squad rebuild plans with double scouting mission in Portugal | OneFootball

Officials from Manchester City have monitored the performances of players in two recent Portuguese top-flight matches, it has been confirmed in national media.

The Premier League champions are remaining very active in the ongoing January transfer market, and despite the opening week being littered with stories regarding arrivals at the club, exits are now on the agenda too this month.

That follows the emergence of information via Pep Guardiola that the Manchester City club captain, Kyle Walker had opted to explore his options outside of English football this month in the hunt for a new challenge abroad at the tail-end of his career.

Manchester City and the representatives of the England international will now work to find a suitable proposition for the 34-year-old, with Italian giants AC Milan emerging as the leading contenders for his signature.

However, on the recruitment front, and alongside Manchester City’s chase of Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Vitor Reis, the club are maintaining their monitoring stage of players by keeping a close eye on proceedings in Portuguese football.

The first of two matches attended by Manchester City scouts, according to Scouts in Attendance on X, saw Sporting CP defeat FC Porto via a narrow 1-0 scoreline thanks to a single strike from the ever-impressive Viktor Gyokeres.

The Premier League champions were joined in the Portuguese capital by officials from AS Roma and Bologna in Serie A, as well as FC Koln, RB Leipzig, and Bayern Munich from Germany’s Bundesliga.

FC Barcelona officials were also in attendance, alongside representatives from the Premier League’s Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Ligue 1 side Olympique Marseille.

City then made it successive Portuguese top-flight matches as they monitored the performances of those featuring in Benfica’s 3-0 win over SC Braga, once again alongside a long list of other clubs.

According to Scouts in Attendance, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Aston Villa were all present from the Premier League, alongside the likes of FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and RB Leipzig.

Manchester City’s incoming director of football from Sporting has also recently made a trip to the north-west of England to link-up with Txiki Begiristain, whom Hugo Viana is expected to replace at the end of the ongoing season.

For now, it remains unknown as to whether Viana is having any say in the Premier League champions’ transfer business this month, with reports in Portugal insisting that his sole focus would be on Sporting’s activity and strengthening Ruben Amorim’s former squad.