Man City faced ‘impossible’ transfer task, says Hugo Viana

17 Sept 2026 12:32 BST | 4 min read

Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

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Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana has claimed that the club faced an “impossible” challenge during the summer transfer window.

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City were beaten to the Premier League title last season by Arsenal and sought to strengthen their ranks by splashing out more than half a billion euros on new signings, including deals worth €100 million or more on midfielder Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

The Etihad club did manage to balance the books somewhat by making €340m worth of sales, but among the players to leave were two who the Portuguese believes are irreplaceable.

Viana picks out two irreplaceable players

The Man City transfer chief picked out Bernardo Silva and John Stones, who left as free agents at the end of their contracts, as players who the club believe are ‘impossible’ to cover.

“Bernardo was here nine years, I think, and John was ten,” he told Man City’s official media.

“You cannot replace them. It’s impossible. Inside the pitch and also outside, they were really, really important for the club.

“They were really, really important in the dressing room, day to day here.

“We had a really good conversation with both. They really feel part of the Manchester City family.

“One of the really interesting points we had during our talks, was that they both said that they could not stay in the Premier League. They have to go abroad because they cannot compete against or cannot face Manchester City. That means a lot for me and the club.”

Compared

John Stones

D (CR)

Inter

John Stones

D (CR)

Inter

VS

Bernardo Silva

M, DM (C)

Real Madrid

Bernardo Silva

M, DM (C)

Real Madrid

€9.6M	ETV	€17.5M
€8.1M - €11M	ETV Range	€15.8M - €19.3M
32 years old (28 May, 1994)	Age	32 years old (10 Aug, 1994)
England	Nationality	Portugal

Viana also spoke about Rodri’s summer transfer to Barcelona, explaining that he was a player City did not want to see go.

“Rodri’s another example of someone who was here so many years winning. I really believe he’s a Manchester City fan also. He’s another player who had to go abroad,” the sporting director said.

“We wanted to keep him. We had good and positive conversations with him and his agent, but after the World Cup, we had a really honest conversation again and he was thinking to move back to his country. And we understand.

“Again, it’s another player we cannot replace – he’s one of the best, if not the best, player in that position now.”

© IMAGO - Rodri left Manchester City for Barcelona in the summer

City centre-back Khusanov picked out for greatness

But there was also time to look at players who extended their contracts with City, and Viani picked out Abdukodir Khusanov as one with a particularly big future.

“We all knew when we brought him in, we all know about his physical attributes,” he said.

“We all believed that he would become a really important player, although not so soon because he was so young. He had only played in France for a really short time. We’ve been really happy with him.

“He’s still developing, he’s still to learn and he will be for sure one of the best centre-backs in the world in the next five or six years.”

Whether he is up to the challenge of replacing Stones at Man City remains to be seen.