Manchester City have agreed a deal for a new director of football, it has been revealed.
It has been confirmed that the club's current recruitment chief Txiki Begiristain will be leaving at the end of the season.
Begiristain is ending a hugely successful 12-year spell with City, working closely with Pep Guardiola after their long-time friendship started when they were teammates at Barcelona.
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He was initially set to step down at the age of 55 but ended up staying on for another five years.
But City had clearly been prepared for the news and already have a replacement ready to come in.
On Friday morning, both Fabrizio Romano and Jack Gaughan from the Daily Mail broke the news that City's next sporting director will be Hugo Viana from Sporting CP.
Viana, credited with being behind a number of impressive deals for the Lisbon outfit, will take up the position in 2025.
It remains to be seen how the move will impact the future of Guardiola, who is due to be out of contract in the summer.
Viana came through the ranks at Sporting and spent time in the Premier League with Newcastle after a record £8.5 million move when he was just 19.
He later turned out for Valencia, Braga and Al Ahli and was capped 29 times for Portugal.
The 41-year-old was previously director of football at Belenenses before taking up the role with Sporting.
One of his most shrewd calls was paying £10 million to Braga to bring in Ruben Amorim as manager.
Amorim, 39, has led Sporting to two titles in Portugal and has the team top of the table after eight wins in a row this term.
The deal is expected to be complete before City play Sporting in the Champions League, allowing for a handover between Begiristain and Viana to take place.
Topics: Manchester City, Fabrizio Romano, Pep Guardiola, Sporting CP
Josh Lawless