Viana delighted with summer acquisitions | OneFootball

Hugo Viana says he is delighted with the quality of players City have brought in over the summer.

Viana, who replaced Txiki Begiristain as our Director of Football, believes it is not only the calibre of footballer, but also the personalities the club identified when bringing in new talent.

Starting with Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, Viana is excited to see what our new recruits can achieve in the months and years ahead.

“I think Tijjani is the type of midfielder that every team would like to have,” said Viana.

“He is a top worker, really committed and he has goals [in his game] and last season with Milan he was unbelievable.

“We knew from the beginning he was our first target - Manchester City in the past have had great midfielders like Gundo and Kevin.

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“They were doing really well but unfortunately, they left. They are still club legends, but it is not easy to replace them.

“I think Tijjani will be a really important player for the club for the next years. Cherki is young, he is a really good talent.

“He has to improve, and he will improve for sure. He comes from France, from Lyon and it’s not the same to play for Manchester City in the Premier League which is really demanding.

“This season will be really important for his development but he’s young and we really look positively in his development for the next years.”

On our new left-back, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Viana added: “It was a position we were looking for since January and with Pep, after many conversations, we decided Ait-Nouri was the right player to bring because Pep likes players to go outside and go inside.

“His technical skills are really, really good and he is young and he has a lot of Premier League experience, so we are really happy with him also.”

Finally, Viana cast his eye over our new-look goalkeeping department – one he believes is now among - if not the - best in world football.

“We have four great goalkeepers in James, Donnarumma, Marcus and Ortega which was important for the club and the dressing room,” he said.

“I don’t see any club stronger than us on the goalkeeping position, so we are really happy with them.

“We have two young goalkeepers in Donnarumma who is 26 and James who is 22 which is important for the future of the club.”