Manchester City unveil masterplan for significant Etihad Stadium hierarchy change that will ‘smoothen transition’ | OneFootball

A statement issued by Manchester City has revealed their internal masterplan that will ensure a ‘smooth transition’ amid a major hierarchy change in 2025.

The club confirmed over the weekend that after a 13-year stay as the club’s hugely successful Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain would be stepping aside from his position within the Etihad Stadium.

As such, Manchester City have already lined up their successor following an extensive search among some of Europe’s best operators, with Begiristain himself understood to have played a role in such a pursuit for his own successor.

That has led the club towards Sporting CP’s Hugo Viana, who has overseen a remarkable series of transfer windows with the Portuguese club including the signings of Pedro Porro, Manuel Ugarte, and Viktor Gyökeres whilst also generating over £300 million in player sales.

But arguably the biggest challenge for Manchester City is how to smoothen the transitional period set to be seen in the coming months, and ensure that the club remains successful and calm over the changeover heading into a major summer transfer window in 2025.

As confirmed by Manchester City in an official club statement, Txiki Begiristain will leave his current post as Director of Football following the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, and only then will be formally succeeded by the current Sporting CP Director of Football, Hugo Viana.

Manchester City have clarified that while the 41-year-old Portuguese official will begin his full-time role at the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2025, Viana will ‘collaborate’ with Begiristain in the ‘preceding months’ to ‘ensure a smooth transition’.

Beyond then, it is clarified that Manchester City hold an intention to ‘pay tribute’ to their outgoing Director of Football’s ‘outstanding contribution’ to the Etihad Stadium project at the end of the ongoing season.

Pep Guardiola has consistently held the belief that the club are set for a solid future beyond both himself and Txiki Begiristain, and spoke in 2023 about the club building a squad for at least the next 10 years, both through new signings and their Academy system.

When the subject of a 10-year squad being built by Begiristain was put to him in 2023, Pep Guardiola said, “It’s good, it’s a young club, for the future, they will be better. We will need everyone, with this schedule and calendar it will be done.”

It remains to be seen whether Txiki Begiristain’s exit will directly impact the future of Pep Guardiola, however there has been a growing feeling of belief within the club that a contract extension for the Catalan coach could emerge as reality in the coming weeks.