Set to join in 2025 

©Imago/Content stadium

On Saturday, Manchester City confirmed that their director of football, Txiki Begiristain, would depart the club at the end of the season and be replaced by Hugo Viana. The former Newcastle player, who has been director of football at Portuguese giants Sporting since 2018, will “collaborate” with his predecessor at the Premier League club before assuming the role in the summer of 2025, according to a brief club statement.

While the statement was concise and to the point, Begiristain’s departure from Manchester City could have a significant impact on the future of English football. Since moving to Manchester in 2012 to join Pep Guardiola, following their successful tenure at Barcelona, Begiristain has helped steer City to seven league titles out of a possible twelve, alongside two FA Cup triumphs and the club’s first-ever Champions League trophy, when they defeated Inter Milan in 2023. Without doubt, Begiristain was Guardiola’s right-hand man, as the pair transformed City into the English powerhouse they are today. So, who is the man tasked with maintaining this success and preserving Begiristain’s legacy?

The Numbers Behind Hugo Viana’s Success at Sporting

Since his move to Sporting in September 2018, Viana has earned a reputation as one of European football’s most impressive directors of football, helping the Lisbon club not only regain parity with their domestic rivals but also surpass them in various ways. For instance, prior to Viana and his head coach Rúben Amorim guiding the club to domestic success, Sporting had not won the Portuguese league title in 19 years. They have since lifted the Liga Portugal title on two occasions—during the 2020/21 and 2023/24 seasons—while also sitting comfortably at the top of the league table at the time of writing. Furthermore, their second-place finish in the 2021/22 season marked the club’s third-highest points tally in the history of the Portuguese top-flight, highlighting the excellence now expected under Viana and Amorim’s leadership.

Naturally, Amorim’s tactics and coaching have played a crucial role in Sporting’s resurgence. However, while the young head coach has outmanoeuvred the likes of Porto and Benfica on the pitch, it is Viana’s prowess off the pitch that has ultimately led him to Manchester City. When considering the overall market value of Sporting’s squad today, it shows a remarkable increase of €282 million. As illustrated in the graphic above, this means that Sporting’s rise under Viana represents the eighth-largest increase in squad value worldwide. Notably, this is more than double the increase seen in Porto’s squad (+€108 million) and over three times that of Benfica’s (+€92.1 million) during the same period.

What makes these numbers even more impressive is that Sporting have generated no less than €589 million from player sales during Viana’s tenure, with seven of the club’s top ten highest sales occurring under his leadership. While Benfica are the only Portuguese club to have made more from player sales in the same period (€972 million), what likely caught Manchester City’s attention is that Sporting’s cross-city rivals have also spent €185 million more on player signings than Sporting during this time. Additionally, when assessing the purchase value (the difference between transfer fees paid and the current market value of each player), Sporting boast the most impressive return in Liga Portugal, with +€276 million, compared to Porto’s +€217 million and Benfica’s +€164 million.

In short, since Viana’s arrival, Sporting have outperformed their main domestic rivals in the transfer market, and this success has been reflected on the pitch, as they continue their push for a third league title in seven seasons. While the 41-year-old administrator will need to prove he can replicate this success at a much bigger club in a far more competitive league, there is no denying that few have done as good a job in their role as Viana has at Sporting, across the entirety of European football.