A new report from BBC Sport has lifted the lid on Manchester City's recruitment operation under director of football Hugo Viana, detailing how a database of 650,000 players is narrowed down to a shortlist of two or three targets for any given position.
Manchester City secured the arrival of teenage sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille this summer.
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The report, by Sami Mokbel of BBC Sport, outlines a six-stage process that begins with the full global database and ends with a ranked shortlist of priority targets, each supported by a detailed acquisition pack that combines data metrics, scouting intelligence, medical records and behavioural profiling.
The account gives the clearest picture yet of how Viana's football operations department is structured since he replaced Txiki Begiristain as director of football ahead of the 2025/26 season.
The starting point is the 650,000-player database, which is then filtered according to a brief from the football department outlining the profile of player the club needs to recruit.
That brief is itself more layered than a simple positional description - Manchester City, according to the report, categorise their full-backs alone into three distinct types: defensive, those who come inside, and those who play high and wide.
Once the brief is set, data filters that grade overall ability are applied to bring the database down to a longlist of between 20-50 names.
That longlist is then cross-referenced with the scouting department's own longlist, and the report notes that there is generally a significant overlap between the players the data identifies and those already on scouts' radar.
Further refined metrics are then applied to rank and prioritise the combined list, with scouts completing additional diligence to reduce it to a maximum of around six players.
Manchester City sporting director Hugo Viana has lifted the lid on the triple departure of Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones this summer, which threatened to damage Enzo Maresca’s first season as manager.cityxtra.co.ukMan City Sporting Director Hugo Viana Lifts Lid on Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones Exits
Manchester City sporting director Hugo Viana has lifted the lid on the triple departure of Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones this summer, which threatened to damage Enzo Maresca’s first season as manager.
Acquisition Packs, Radar Charts and the Role of Cambiaso
At the six-player stage, according to Mokbel's report. the club completes deeper individual assessment on each remaining target - covering injury record, athletic performance and behavioural habits - before compiling the findings into what City call acquisition packs. Each pack contains the key metrics used to inform the final decision, including a radar chart that rates a range of specific on-field attributes.
Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso is cited in the report as a player who has been on City's radar as a result of that data process, with his ability to come inside and contribute to build-up play in midfield highlighted as a key factor.
The 26-year-old Italy international's comfort with both feet also rated highly in the club's assessment. The report makes clear, however, that City decided not to proceed with their interest in the previous transfer window based on a combination of data and scouting reports, though Cambiaso is expected to remain a monitored target given the structure of the process.
Once the acquisition packs have been evaluated, City's own valuation of each remaining player is factored in - a figure that is never a single number but rather a data-informed price range - and the list is reduced to two or three names. A priority is then identified, though all players on the shortlist are worked on simultaneously to account for circumstances changing, such as a player becoming unavailable.
Hugo Viana said: "Data plays a role in our decision-making, but it is just one part of the overall picture. We know data cannot tell us everything about a player. It cannot fully show a person's character, mentality or behaviour. That is why we study data insights but focus on the expertise of our scouts and other specialists."
The process Viana describes reflects an approach to recruitment that blends the quantitative and qualitative rather than relying on either in isolation.
City's spending in recent windows has been considerable - Enzo Fernandez arrived for a club-record £125 million from Chelsea, while the summer also brought Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi and the structure of the process outlined in the report suggests each of those signings went through the same funnel before a decision was made.
City return from the international break in October with a trip to Liverpool on the 11th and a visit from Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League three days later. The January window will offer the next opportunity for Viana's recruitment department to act on any of the shortlists the process is already producing.