Manchester City are taking on Sporting CP in their next Champions League match on Tuesday, and Pep Guardiola has spoken about Hugo Viana.
Manchester City are looking to continue their good form in the competition, having taken seven points from a possible nine so far.
City potentially face their toughest League Phase match yet, with Sporting having won all 10 of their domestic league games so far. They have also scored 35, and conceded just three.
Ruben Amorim will be hoping to get one over on Pep Guardiola before heading to Manchester United.
Ahead of the clash between City and Sporting, Guardiola faced the media and was asked about Hugo Viana, who is replacing Txiki Begiristain next summer.
Guardiola hopes for Hugo Viana contact ‘in the next month or weeks’
Viana will replace Begiristain next summer as the director of football at the Etihad Stadium.
It will be a tough act to follow, with Begiristain having played a major role in bringing so many wonderful players to the club.
But Viana has done terrific work at Sporting, providing Amorim with the tools to win two league titles in the last three years.
Guardiola was always likely to be asked about Viana ahead of this particular game, and the Spaniard has admitted he’s looking forward to getting into contact with him.
There hasn’t been contact yet, but Guardiola is expecting that ‘in the next month or weeks’.
He said: “I’m looking forward to speaking with him this season, but I think he’s in touch with Ferran Soriano, with Txiki [Begiristain] a lot, and hopefully maybe in the next month or weeks we’ll be in touch…”
City are giving Viana the best chance to start well
The news about Begiristain was surprising at the time.
But it was claimed that Begiristain actually informed City last year that he would be leaving his position, so there has been plenty of notice for City to put a succession plan in place.
It sounds very much as though the work has already started. Or at least, there have bene initial conversations about the tasks ahead.
City appear to be giving Viana the chance of starting his new job in the best possible way.
These months leading up to the 2025/26 season will be really important for Viana as he seeks to make an immediate impact in his first summer, which is likely to be a busy one.
Hopefully, he will soon touch base with Guardiola and they can start putting things in place for next season.
