Hugo Viana has proven himself to be a shrewd operator in his first window as Director of Football at Manchester City so far.
The man born in Barcelos swiftly signed Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Ait-Nouri before the FIFA Club World Cup started on June 10th, all for a combined fee of around £108m.
Even after missing out on a target in Michele Di Gregorio, Hugo Viana is showing himself to be a smart recruiter at Manchester City by quickly moving onto a replacement in Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Manchester City now monitoring Marc-Andre ter Stegen after failing to sign Michele Di Gregorio
Tutto Mercato Web in Italy are now claiming that the Juventus No.29 has rejected a move to the Etihad Stadium in favour of staying in Turin, where he is determined to help the Old Lady return to the top of Serie A.
Di Gregorio – who Juventus signed in a €20m (£17m) move from Monza back in July 2024 – is also said to have rejected Liverpool in 2024 before the Reds signed Giorgi Mamardashvili instead.
A story from Spanish news outlet AS then said that Manchester City are monitoring the situation involving Ter Stegen at Barcelona, as Hansi Flick’s side aim to sell the Germany international.
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Barcelona have already signed Joan Garcia – who Manchester City initially wanted – from Espanyol and are therefore eager to offload the German to improve their financial situation.
AS claim that Ter Stegen is therefore refusing to train with Barcelona, and has opted to work alone in the gym during Flick’s sessions – but is keen to play regularly ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The 33-year-old UEFA Champions League winner still has three years remaining on his £104,975-a-week contract, a salary Barcelona are desperate to remove from their wage bill.
Therefore, you would presume this is quite a simple deal for Manchester City to complete, should Viana make a serious push for the man born in Monchengladbach.
It comes after Galatasaray made an approach to sign Ederson, and the Brazilian is willing to move to Turkey with only 12 months remaining on his contract at the Etihad Stadium.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen wanted to join Manchester City in 2016
The Barcelona No.1 may well jump at the chance to join the Citizens, as he was eager to make the move back in 2016.
Ter Stegen said he wanted to sign for Manchester City when speaking on the Phrasenmaher podcast, claiming that Guardiola wanted to land him before eventually signing Claudio Bravo.
The Barcelona outcast said: “We had a meeting (in 2016). Pep flew here, explained his ideas, that he’d be at Man City in summer and would like to have me.
“I told myself this could be the solution and the plan at Man City sounds very interesting. Looking at the last few years, it’s worked perfectly. I went to Luis Enrique and told him I wanted permission. He replied: ‘I won’t release you under any circumstances!’ He also said he’d tell the club they shouldn’t let me go.
“On one hand I really appreciated it, but wanted to be number one (at Manchester City). He said we should see how pre-season goes, I almost lost my temper… I just said: I’ll go to the board and just wanted to let you know. The board also said they wouldn’t release me. Three weeks later, Pep brought Claudio Bravo to City.”
Now, Ter Stegen could finally get his move to Manchester City.