Hugo Viana’s phone has been turned off this week to give him some respite from the number of people ringing to congratulate him.
The 41-year-old is universally regarded as one of the nicest people in football, so it’s no surprise there has been an outpouring of goodwill in the game at news of Viana’s appointment as Manchester City’s next sporting director.
His popularity at Sporting, where in the space of six successful years he has helped rid them of the reputation as Portugal’s biggest underachievers, extends beyond the terraces at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Most Sporting fans are sad to see him go following two league titles won on his watch. “He’s done a very good job, especially in the last three years,” says Pedro Varela of the Sporting160 podcast.
And among the families of Sporting players past and present he is regarded just as highly – as a sporting director who remembers kids’ birthdays, checks in on injured stars and, in the words of one source, “cares for the players like a family”.
Those qualities will no doubt have impressed City, who run such a tight ship that they were able to negotiate with Viana for almost a year without news of their interest leaking.
But then, he rarely gives interviews or speaks to the media – Viana has been dubbed “Sporting’s shadow man” by Portuguese newspapers – preferring instead to let his work do the talking. If City were after someone discreet, Viana looks like a good pick.
He has a big job to replace City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain. City’s rise has not been without controversy, but from a sporting perspective they are a well-oiled winning machine.
They have huge resources, of course, but unlike some of their rivals they utilise them superbly – which is down to the brilliance of Begiristain.
Viana has carved out a reputation for doing similar at Sporting. “He’s a very clever guy with a really high strategic sense. His planning is perfect, he’s a strategy guy, one step ahead,” a former rival sporting director tells i.
Viana’s recruitment record isn’t without its failures – an expensive punt on former Liverpool winger Rafael Camacho on a five-year contract ended with him playing just 19 times – but he has overseen changes to the club’s scouting network and devised a philosophy that has given Sporting a reputation as savvy spenders.
It was Viana, i has been told, who drove interest in Viktor Gyokeres when others at the club were questioning the wisdom of breaking Sporting’s transfer record on a striker playing in England’s second tier.
The £16m outlay now looks like chicken feed for a player who could command five times that now. His faith in the Sweden forward came because he trusted voices in his scouting network.
“If he’s looking for a player to fill a position, he’s not going around the market spinning around a lot of options, asking about three or four players,” a rival executive tells i.
“They have one guy they work on, one guy they know they can get, and they go and get him. It feels like they put a lot of work into those people.”
He will join City with the club at something of a crossroads. A six-month handover period starts in February – although he will recuse himself from work the week Sporting play City next month – but plenty may have changed at the Etihad by the time he gets his feet under the desk.
A verdict on the 115 charges the club have been fighting should have arrived by the summer, and the club might also be under new management if Pep Guardiola walks away.
Guardiola was giving away little on that front on Friday but i understands a decision is due soon. If he goes, Sporting’s highly-rated manager Ruben Amorim looks like a tailor-made replacement given how close he is with Viana.
Amorim had admirers at the Etihad before they picked Viana, and succession planning has been ticking along in the background as they try to persuade Guardiola to stay.
i has been told Amorim would be open to the offer if it came, sensing an “end of the cycle” feel in the Portuguese capital.
“If we win another championship this season it’s three titles and the second successive championship, which would be remarkable,” Sporting160 host Varela says.
“In this moment the fans feel Viana is doing a good job, we’re one of the best teams in Portugal and maybe even in Europe. If you evaluate the performances of the last few years and some of the most recent big signings, fans feel good about Hugo Viana.
“But if you ask them honestly, the fans prefer to lose Viana than Amorim, because he is something special.”
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