Manchester City officials travel to Portugal for scouting mission at FC Porto victory | OneFootball

Officials from Manchester City were present at a recent Liga Portuguese clash involving FC Porto for a scouting mission of the talents on show, a report has revealed.

The Premier League champions are understood to be eyeing up a major overhaul of their current first-team squad roster, with a number of signings being targeted across the January and summer transfer windows of 2025.

Incomings are likely to be accompanied by big-name departures too, with the futures of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, and Kyle Walker all in doubt and interest growing from the likes of Major League Soccer and over in Saudi Arabia.

From the side of those in charge of recruitment at Manchester City, it is believed that the Etihad club will be eyeing up new names and faces in all positions throughout the squad, particularly central midfield and the full-back roles.

As part of that recruitment drive, Manchester City have turned their attentions over to the Portuguese game and a club that has produced some of the finest talents to have graced the European game in recent years.

That is according to the information of Portuguese newspaper O Jogo, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, who report that all of Brighton, Anderlecht, Utrecht, Manchester City and Barcelona had a scout present at FC Porto’s 4-0 win against Boavista.

Whilst there are no specific details as to which players City were monitoring, the report has selected 17-year-old attacker Rodrigo Mora as the best player on the pitch, with teammates Nico Gonzalez and Samu Omorodion Aghehowa also sounded out for praise.

Over the years there have been a number of players to have represented both clubs in Portugal and Manchester City at various stages of their career, particularly FC Porto – who have a strong connection with the Etihad Stadium.

Arguably the most successful of those names has been Nicolas Otamendi, who joined Manchester City directly from Valencia in the summer of 2015, winning trophies under both Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola before leaving in 2020.

Other names to have played for both FC Porto and Manchester City are defensive names in Eliaquim Mangala and Danilo, as well as defensive midfielder Fernando Reges.