Hugo Viana arguably has the most important job out of anyone at Manchester City as he has been tasked with the responsibility of reshaping their squad into becoming potential winners again.
Manchester City supporters are accustomed to lifting trophies and unless they are convinced that Viana is steering them in the right direction by investing into the priority areas of the squad, all hell could break loose within the fanbase.
In the summer, Manchester City intend to replace Kevin De Bruyne and have placed the tall task of doing so as their main priority.
A brand-new attacking midfielder is on the Sky Blues’ radar and Manchester City are not eyeing a central midfielder as such despite often looking exposed in the middle of the park.
Inter Milan and Barcelona have shown that much of their success in Europe this season is down to having world-class number eights at their disposal such as Nicolo Barella and Pedri respectively.
- READ MORE: Barcelona’s Pedri explains why he absolutely loves playing with Man City star Rodri for Spain
Manchester City should try to sign Nicolo Barella this summer
Nicolo Barella, in particular is the kind of all-action central midfielder who Manchester City are missing in their ranks — with Bernardo Silva (30), Ilkay Gundogan (34) and Mateo Kovacic (31) showing their ages this season.
While Hugo Viana loves Morgan Gibbs-White, Manchester City’s incoming director of football should divert his attention towards signing Barella in the summer.
The obvious difficulty that City would have in their pursuit to sign the Inter Milan midfielder is that he is set to play in the Champions League final and has every reason to be loving life at the San Siro.
However, Manchester City have already won the competition in 2023 and Hugo Viana’s pitch to Barella could simply be that he could be one of their faces of the rebuild as they try dominating English and European football once again.
Furthermore, the 28-year-old is the type of player who City perhaps miss the most as not only is the Italian international technically sound but he is an energizer bunny in the middle of the park as well — adept at winning the ball back and crunching into challenges.
Manchester City have shown interest in signing Barella previously, who would serve as the perfect partner to Rodri as he would alleviate the Spaniard’s physical burden by putting the hard yards in midfield while also being able to pick up the ball in the first phase of the pitch and dictate proceedings.
Unlike Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic, who have also been far too conservative with their passing this season, Barella is renowned for breaking the lines at will and spraying raking passes for fun.
The European Championship winner is arguably the most complete midfielder in the world, has triumphed both domestically and internally and at 28, he is in the prime of his year career — aspects that make him the ideal signing for City’s win-now project.
When does Nicolo Barella’s contract expire at Inter Milan?
However, Barella is the jewel in Inter Milan’s crown as he showed against Barcelona by standing out once again and Manchester City will certainly have a hard time convincing him to leave this summer.
Even Jurgen Klopp is a fan of Barella’s and if City wish to transform their fortunes, they will have to make such statement signings.
However, Hugo Viana may consider the move a sizable task to pull off for multiple reasons.
First and foremost, Barella’s contract at Inter Milan expires in 2029.
Secondly, the midfield maestro penned the deal last year — which could mean that he is happy with life at Inter and has no intention to bid farewell to Simone Inzaghi’s side anytime soon.
