Manchester City receive boost over potential incoming sporting director and recent Premier League interest | OneFootball

Officials at Manchester City may have received a significant boost to their hopes of hiring one specific replacement for Txiki Begiristain in the role of sporting director.

The 60-year-old is seemingly heading towards an exit from the Premier League champions at the end of the ongoing season, in a move that would bring to an end an illustrious 13-year tenure as the club’s director of football.

It is widely believed that the decision had been coming for some time now, with the suggestion being that his exit date had been pushed back by five years, such was his enjoyment working on the City project alongside Pep Guardiola.

However well-prepared Manchester City have been on an emotional front for the departure of Begiristain, the challenge to replace such an integral figure in their prolonged success will not have decreased over the years.

Despite that, there appears to be one profile within the Portuguese game that has moved towards the very top of Manchester City’s shortlist when it comes to candidates to take on the role of Etihad Stadium sporting director from early 2025.

According to the information of Portuguese outlet Jornal de Notícias, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, Sporting CP’s current director of football, Hugo Viana is ‘well regarded’ in England, and has rejected approaches from Newcastle United and Aston Villa in the past.

Whilst no further details have been included in the report about the nature of such interest from within the top-flight, it is simply highlighted that Viana was not interested in a move to either Newcastle or Aston Villa.

According to various reports in recent days, it is Viana who has become Manchester City’s ‘favourite candidate’ to replace Txiki Begiristain in the Etihad Stadium offices, ahead of the likes of Girona’s Quique Carcel and FC Porto’s Andoni Zubizarreta.

The latter was put forward as an early contender of the job having been noted as being the FC Barcelona sporting director during Pep Guardiola’s time as manager of the Catalan giants, after being promoted from their B-team up to the senior squad.

The current plan in place at Manchester City is to hire a replacement for Txiki Begiristain in the coming weeks, bringing them in during the early stages of 2025, before granting the figure an opportunity to work alongside the 60-year-old before taking over for the summer market.