Former Newcastle United midfielder Hugo Viana has visited Manchester City this week ahead of his official appointment as the club’s new director of football.

Viana will join Manchester City in the summer when Txiki Begiristain steps down from his position as director of football at the club. The 60-year-old joined City in 2012 and has had an instrumental impact in transforming the club into a global powerhouse.

Begiristain played a key role in the appointment of head coach Pep Guardiola, having played with him at Barcelona. Now City have named Viana as Begiristain’s successor after the former Newcastle United midfielder caught the eye as director of football at Sporting.

Viana had been in the role at Sporting since 2018, overseeing two Primeira Liga title wins in that time - including last season. Viana’s signings of Viktor Gyökeres, Ousmane Diomande and Morten Hjulmand have helped Sporting climb back to the top of Portuguese football.

Now Viana is in England this week with footage released by Sky Sports showing him speaking with Begiristain at the Manchester City training ground. Viana’s role at Man City will be his first permanent return to England since leaving Newcastle as a player around 20 years ago.

Viana joined Newcastle from Sporting in 2002 for £8.5million which was a club record paid for a teenager at the time. The record has only recently been broken by Newcastle with the signing of Lewis Hall from Chelsea last summer for £28million.

Viana went on to score three goals in 56 games for Newcastle, including one in the famous 3-2 Champions League win over Feyenoord. He spent his last two seasons under contract at Newcastle on loan back at Sporting and then Valencia, whom he joined permanently in 2006.

Manchester City host Newcastle in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off).