Man City's new sporting director confirmed - Romano

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 11 Oct 2024 12:28 BST
• 2 min read

Manchester City’s new director of football has been confirmed.

Reports emerged that Txiki Begiristain would leave the club at the end of the season.

The 60-year-old Spaniard joined the Premier League champions in 2012 and was part of the reason why Pep Guardiola, his former Barcelona teammate, joined the club as manager four years later.

The trio of Begiristain, Guardiola and chief executive Ferran Soriano has seen Man City enjoy their best-ever years - winning six of the past seven Premier League titles.

And now, Fabrizio Romano has announced the news that it will be Sporting CP chief Hugo Viana.

The Italian posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Manchester City’s new director of football will be Hugo Viana! He leaves Sporting to replace Txiki Begiristain at Man City from 2025."

David Ornstein reported earlier this week that a replacement had been found for Begiristain.

Pep Guardiola on Txiki Begiristain

Guardiola has previously spoken about his relationship with Begiristain and the Spaniard's impact at the Etihad Stadium.

“Txiki has been massively important at this club,” he said (as per The Mirror). “He was here before I arrived and was stable in the club.

“He has been really important in these years and part of the enormous success we’ve had in terms of results and many things, he has been so important.

“I do ask him to take responsibility with the media, talk a bit, but he’s so shy. He wants to be behind the scenes so all the shots and the weapons are directed to me.

“But it was the same in Barcelona. He's a close friend and we’ve known each other for 25 or 30 years. He’s calm and that balance helps us work perfectly together.”