The administration didn't let any time go to waste. He immediately agreed with Portuguese Hugo Viana, who will take over the full role of Director of Football at the Citizens from the summer. But his briefing will start from now… So that by the time Begiristain  officially leaves he will know everything or almost everything about his new team.

Thus, the information that wanted the leadership of Manchester City to immediately proceed with the restructuring of its football department became flesh and blood.

Hugo Viana will leave his (equally successful) post at Sporting Lisbon immediately. So he will start working alongside Begiristain until the summer, as a form of gradual transition. Viana is the man who has helped to raise the level of Sporting Lisbon in recent years having acquired names such as Victor Gyokeres (centre-forward) , Morten Hjulmand (midfielder) and Diomande (centre-back)

"Manchester City have confirmed that “Txiki” Begiristain will step down from his role as Director of Football at the end of the 2024/25 season. After twelve trophy-laden years at the Etihad Stadium, “Txiki” will step down from his current role following the club's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer and will be replaced by Sporting's Hugo Viana", City's official statement said. .

Viana will start the role full-time in the summer of 2025, but will work with “Txiki” in the months leading up to his move to ensure a smooth transition. We look forward to paying tribute to “Txiki”'s outstanding contribution to Manchester City at the end of the season."

Viana married Raquel Gomes in a Catholic ceremony in Orada, Albufeira in June 2003. The marriage produced two daughters and a son. In 2004, Viana lost his wedding ring on Newcastle Town Moor, but it was returned by a young fan due to the name engraved onto it.

Will Pep leave too...

Meanwhile the announcement of Aitor "Txiki" Begiristain 's departure as Manchester City's sporting director has re-opened the debate regarding Pep Guardiola's future at the club. Begiristain's decision was known for a long time and indeed a decision that was made during the treble in 2023. Of course, the Catalan remained in the summer of 2024. But with all due respect to Begiristain's work, the problem for the English champions now seems to be another, possibly even bigger one and it concerns Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City are making big and hard efforts to convince the Catalan manager to sign a new contract, but Guardiola has not yet opened his cards. As his close friends say, "With Pep, you never know."

There are some in football who believe he is considering signing a new contract, which he hinted at during pre-season and the fact that he is in Abu Dhabi during the break has led many to believe that the reason he is at the home of City's owners is new contract.

The real reason was some of his commercial deals, while City fans in every way (like the banner in Catalan) are trying to convince him. But the question is what Pep thinks. The way he responded about the banner left a lot of questions and with Begiristain on the way out, maybe the end really is near.

The 'architect' of Manchester City joined the Citizens in the 2012-13 season with the aim of turning the club into a winning team with a very clear identity and game concept. Guardiola was supposed to be the great "architect", along with Ferran Soriano.

The duo Begiristain - Guardiola

Guardiola knew that Begiristain is a reliable man, someone he had already worked with at Barcelona and with whom he had a lot of feelings when it came to building a winning team. Now it remains to be seen what will be the future of the Catalan technician in the Citizens.

And that's because the next day for Guardiola is, at the moment, a mystery. His contract expires next June and rumors of a possible move away from Manchester are starting to grow.

The story will resemble that of Sir Alex…

In the meantime, thinking about things, we try to think of Manchester City without Guardiola. And this thought brings us memories of its other great rival and compatriot, United when Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement.

And if for one the replacement has already been found (now of course Ten Haag also has his serious issues) for Pep it is extremely difficult to think how he can work the next day. It is inevitable that, in case they both leave at the same time, everyone in Manchester will be talking about another case of 'Ferguson-Gill' when they left United in 2013.

Something absolutely logical because what Guardiola has achieved in the last 8 years with all his partners at City cannot be done by anyone, or at least it will take a few years. And precisely because of these successes, anything else that follows can be considered a failure.

But what City fans can be sure of is that the man who laid the foundations for this club's renaissance, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, doesn't seem willing to let his entire edifice crumble so easily.

After all, their dream when they bought Manchester City was to make them the top team in the world, which they managed to do even by spending a lot of money that no other team had. And of course there is no other way...