Sporting CP are facing a big change in the summer, with sporting director Hugo Viana moving to Manchester City to replace Txiki Begiristain.
That will be a loss to the Portuguese club, who have gone through a period of success with Viana in place. There’s a trio of key people at Sporting, consisting of president Frederico Varandas, manager Ruben Amorim and Viana.
The three are good friends, and have worked very well together. One of the reasons Amorim is still there, and didn’t leave for elsewhere last summer, is that trident.
Given one of them is going it presents the possibility of the whole thing falling apart, with Amorim’s future also the subject of rumours.
Despite all of that, Varandas has been speaking well of Viana’s move to Manchester City, sharing his pride that such a well resourced club has turned to Sporting for a crucial recruit. Record quote him as saying: “It was a fundamental triangle for the growth and recovery of the true Sporting. This is history. It has remained. It will remain forever. Ruben Amorim and Viana were fundamental, fundamental, in this start. Obviously, Hugo Viana is the talk of the town. Hugo Viana, obviously, and here from a personal point of view, deserves everything. Not only from a professional point of view, from a human point of view. He’s going to, probably on a par with Real Madrid.
“He’s going to one of the most powerful clubs in the world. Something that has never happened in Portug...