Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim has revealed the reaction from within the first-team set-up at the Portuguese giants to Hugo Viana’s move to Manchester City.
The Premier League champions confirmed earlier this month that after 12 seasons with the club, Txiki Begiristain would be bringing an end to his day-to-day activities as their Director of Football.
The 60-year-old has played an instrumental role in building some of the most successful squads in the history of the English game in particular, and was also crucial to luring Pep Guardiola to Manchester City in 2016.
It would be that personal relationship between Begiristain and Guardiola that would ultimately see the former’s time with City extended by five years, having first sought out a potential exit at the age of 55.
But in true Txiki Begiristain fashion, and as a reflection on his professional and high-standard work, a successor to him has already been identified and formalised, with Sporting CP’s Hugo Viana taking on the role of sporting director from the summer of 2025.
Speaking during a recent press conference, Sporting manager Ruben Amorim was quizzed for insight into how his first-team squad reacted to news of Hugo Viana’s agreement to become City’s next Director of Football.
“The players, and I was a player, are much more basic than that, let’s say,” Amorim insisted. “They are very concerned with the game, that is, in day-to-day life it doesn’t interfere, because (Hugo) Viana is there anyway.”
The 39-year-old continued, “The players don’t even know what their future holds for the next year, let alone the lives of others, and they know that the structure is very solid.
“If one person is not there, we always miss everyone, but it has happened in our structure that people leave who are not so visible.
“Obviously, they are not as important as Hugo Viana, but we have to take that naturally and therefore not even they know what their future holds, let alone that of the rest of the structure.”
Hugo Viana is expected to join Manchester City from the early stages of 2025, as Txiki Begiristain holds a belief that it would be beneficial for all parties to undergo a transitional period to smoothen the changeover by the summer.
Interestingly, both Sporting and Manchester City are due to go head-to-head in November in the league phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League, with Amorim already suggesting that Viana will not be permitted to enter his dressing room to prevent conflict of interest.
