You would have had to have been either exiled on a remote island or taking some time out in space to not know that Manchester City have been in the news a bit lately. The 115 Premier League and Uefa related charges against them, the success of their challenge to the Premier League or just the fact that they seem to be stumbling a bit and really not maintaining their happy habit of winning football matches, Citeh are never far away from the news. But did many of us notice the appointment of Hugo Viana as their incoming Sporting Director for the 25/26 season?
Now any of you younger readers may be muttering ‘Hugo who’? Well, let me inform you and at the same time remind some of us older Mags of Hugo’s past. Because Hugo really was one that got away from Newcastle United.
Hugo Viana was signed by Newcastle as a 19-year-old from Sporting Lisbon (or Sporting CP as they seem to be known nowadays). His was a record Toon fee for a teenager at £8.5m and having won the Young European Player of the Year award in his previous season (now the Golden Boy award) he arrived with a lot of expectation. This was undoubtedly an exciting signing. But sadly, it just didn’t work out.
Viana joined us as a hugely gifted footballer. Playing as a left sided central midfielder he was viewed by Bobby Robson as being a natural successor to Gary Speed. And maybe this was part of the problem. Speed was not only a favourite of Robson – one of his ‘blue chip boys’ – but of the fans too. Despite age creeping up on him, he wasn’t slowing down and was still very much a dominant force in our midfield alongside the likes of Kieron Dyer, Jermaine Jenas, Clarence Acuna and Nobby Solano. As a result, Viana’s chances were limited and he never really got the run of games that would have hopefully seen him become a mainstay of the team for years to come.
Viana had an excellent passing range but probably lacked the pace and physicality to succeed in the Premier League. It didn’t make him any less of a player though. Think Yohan Cabaye, but crucially without Cabaye’s experience, aggression and will to win. So it was then, that we only ever really saw glimpses of Viana’s greatness on Tyneside.
There are a few standout memories of Viana’s time at Newcastle for me. Firstly, the goals. Viana didn’t score many, but he was never one for tap ins, either. He scored only 4 goals in 61 appearances, but they were all pretty special. A first time screamer into the near top corner against Chelsea at the Gallowgate springs to mind as well as his strike from the left hand corner of the box against Feyenoord away in the Champions League. The other two were free kicks that he elegantly caressed into the near corner, before running off laughing like this was the easiest thing in the world.
Viana was a player that promised much in flashes. There’d be moments of brilliance where he made the game look simply effortless and in those moments it wasn’t overly hard to understand what the club had seen in order to shell out millions. However, Hugo was obviously very young and as a result – at a time when not too many very young players were joining our league – the move just didn’t work. The league felt too physical for the nuances of his game and he just wasn’t afforded the time on the ball that was perhaps needed for him to flourish. As often with players coming in from the smaller European leagues, he just couldn’t seem to get going at Newcastle.
In the end, it was inevitable that we’d cut our losses and that Hugo would be allowed to move on. I imagine that it came as a relief to the player when he was loaned out to Valencia for the 2005 – 2006 season. However, it was a similar story there as he struggled for game time and consistency and by 2009 he was off to Braga, back in Portugal. Here he was much more successful, making 123 appearances and scoring 16 goals in 4 seasons.
Following a spell playing in Saudi Arabia, Hugo returned to Portugal, eventually taking up the post of sporting director at Sporting Lisbon, where after getting through a number of managers and hugely expanding their scouting network, his success has now led to his recent appointment to the same role at Manchester City. Hopefully, he can be a success in his new role…just as long as it doesn’t harm us!
What do you remember of Viana’s time on Tyneside?
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