Sporting centre-back among four names to be targeted by incoming Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana | OneFootball

Manchester City’s incoming sporting director Hugo Viana could turn towards his former club for a new recruit at the heart of the Etihad Stadium club’s defence.

The Portuguese official is due to take on the reigns of Manchester City’s transfer market strategy and operations from the start of the upcoming summer transfer window, and with that comes plenty of work to begin his tenure.

He follows in the footsteps of one of the most successful sporting directors in football history in Txiki Begiristain, as the Spaniard steps away from the position at the Etihad Stadium after 12 seasons in the role.

During that time, Begiristain played a significant role in bringing Pep Guardiola to the club in 2016, while also executing transformational player deals including Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, and Ederson.

However, as Manchester City look to bring in a fresh generation of talent to start a new era of the club beginning through work executed by Pep Guardiola in the next two years of contract, Hugo Viana has his eyes on new recruits of a certain age profile, too.

According to the information of journalist Sacha Tavolieri for Sky Sports Switzerland, contacts remain constant between Manchester City and the entourage of Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso, who is considered Viana’s ‘priority option’ for the right-back role.

That is reportedly added to ‘discussions already established with’ the entourage of Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci, and Sporting CP central defender Ousmane Diomande – a player who Viana considers as ‘one of the most gifted central defenders of his generation’.

And those developments are not forgetting the ongoing interest in Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, with the German said to have been the subject of discussions for several months over at Manchester City.

The Premier League champions’ pursuit of a right-back largely comes as a result of Kyle Walker’s expected permanent departure to AC Milan in the summer, with the Italian side holding a low-cost option to buy at the end of their six-month loan deal.

As for the centre of midfield, Nico Gonzalez brought in some much-needed versatile and youthfulness on deadline day in the January market, however the ageing nature of multiple players means that at least one central player could be required.

Pep Guardiola has also made no secret of his frustrations at City’s fitness and injury record in the centre of defensive throughout the campaign, and some hard decisions may need to be had with players who simply cannot handle the relentless schedule at this point in their career.