Hugo Viana plotting Manchester City escape route for want-away Atletico Madrid star | OneFootball

Manchester City and Manchester United are keeping tabs on Atletico Madrid and Argentina defender Nahuel Molina, as per a new report.

City added Rayan Ait-Nouri to their defensive ranks in the summer transfer window after a disappointing 2024-25 season that saw Pep Guardiola’s side finish third in the Premier League with 71 points and exit the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 stage.

Hugo Viana, City’s new sporting director, sanctioned the acquisitions of seven first-team signings in the summer, with several senior stars integral to Manchester City’s success over the years moved on, sold or allowed to leave – including Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, James McAtee and Scott Carson.

Viana has stamped his print at the Etihad Stadium in what was a crossroads window for the Blues, who tied down manager Pep Guardiola to a new deal valid till 2027 in the fall of 2024. However, there remains work to be done in the transfer market to get Manchester City back to their recent levels of success.

Right-back has been a key area of concern for Manchester City in recent seasons and there emerged a true need for reinforcements midway through the previous campaign when former club captain Kyle Walker decided to seek exile in Italy after losing his starting XI spot and joined AC Milan on loan till the end of the 2024-25 season.

A personnel crisis in defence meant forced club officials’ hand to sanction the arrivals of Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov in January, with Guardiola operating with Khusanov, Manuel Akankji, John Stones, Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes at right-back for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

Manchester City identified Newcastle’s Valentino Livramento as their ideal replacement for Walker in the summer but the finances involved in a potential deal led negotiations to an impasse, with Viana and co failing to narrow down viable alternatives in the market.

Nunes, Lewis, Khusanov and Stones have shouldered the workload at right-back since the start of the 2025-26 season following the permanent and loan departures of Walker and Akanji to Burnley and Inter Milan respectively – though club officials are expected to add a new right-back to Guardiola’s squad in the upcoming transfer windows.

Viana has identified Atletico Madrid’s out-of-favour right-back Nahuel Molina as a potent addition to Manchester City’s first-team squad with a belief that the La Liga giants will consider an offer in January 2026, as reported by TBR Football.

Molina has fallen out of favour with Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone and is open to an exit, with Manchester City and Manchester United among those monitoring the Argentina international’s situation at the Metropolitano Stadium.

Officials at the Etihad Stadium are also monitoring Espanyol’s Omar El Hilali but the report adheres to a belief at the club that securing the arrival of Molina midway through the season will be easier, with the 27-year-old understood to be keen on a fresh start.

It has also been stated that Molina was Atletico Madrid’s secret agent in convincing international teammate Julian Alvarez to leave Manchester City and move to the Spanish capital last summer.