MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: Hugo Viana, Director of Football of Sporting CP looks on ahead of the UEFA Champions League Round Of Sixteen Leg Two match between Manchester City and Sporting CP at City of Manchester Stadium on March 09, 2022 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Hugo Viana's biggest challenge at City this summer could be selling players
One down, how many to go? The Manchester City exodus has begun with Kyle Walker heading to Burnley, but the job has only just got started for new director of football Hugo Viana this summer.
Walker is the first player to be sold this summer and at least three or four must follow him out of the door, and that figure could rise to as high as six or seven if Pep Guardiola gets his way.
The transfer window started promisingly for City, with in the early weeks of June, but the challenge was always going to be shifting players who clearly had no future at the Etihad.
The deal that will take 35-year-old Walker to the Premier League new boys is a sign of how creative Viana will have to get over the next seven to eight weeks. The priority with the England international was getting his sizeable salary off the wage bill, and that has been achieved.
After a loan spell to AC Milan that didn't convince the Serie A side to take a £4.2million option on the six-time Premier League winner, a permanent departure had to be the aim. That has been achieved, and if Walker makes his spell at Turf Moor a success, it could be worth £5million to City. Achieving any of that figure will be a bonus on top of the wage savings.
Viana can now turn attention to finding a way to shift Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish. Phillips will prove to be especially challenging, given that he is currently injured. Barely anything has gone right for him since his move from Leeds United three years ago, including a loan move to West Ham last season. His stock has fallen dramatically.
The same is true of Grealish, although there is likely to be more interest in him. Neither will attract anything close to the sum City paid for them, but then neither has a future at the club either, so Viana simply has to find a way to move them on, while bringing in as attractive a transfer fee as possible, especially for Grealish.
The problem for Viana is that City have no leverage when it comes to players who clearly have no future at the Etihad. Being left out of the Club World Cup squad confirmed that for all of them, so interested clubs hold all the cards. That is why City must be clever and cute when it comes to negotiations, which is something they have at least achieved with Walker.
Viana will have easier deals to conclude. There is plenty of interest in James McAtee after he captained England Under-21s to glory in the European Championship. That could yet be the most attractive sale for the Blues in this window.
Then the nature of the challenge might shift. City took 24 outfield players to the Club World Cup and that is too big a squad for Guardiola's requirements. He will want three or four of those players to be moved on as well.
The problem is that none of them are showing much willingness to depart. There is enough depth for a central defender to leave, and Ilkay Gundogan could still depart, along with one or two others, depending on interest.
It's certainly going to be a busy summer of exits at the Etihad. Walker is just the start, but he is a promising start.
Kevin de Bruyne is one of - if not the - greatest players to play for Manchester City.
He leaves the club having won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, five League Cups and a memorable Champions League victory!
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To mark his amazing time at the Etihad Stadium, this special edition has been produced - KDB The King - to celebrate Kev's career with the Blues. We look back at his 10 best games in Blue, celebrate his title wins and hear from the City boss and a host of team-mates and football elite who give their views on what makes him so special.
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