Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media
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Manchester City will embark on a new era once Hugo Viana replaces long-serving director of football Txiki Begiristain at the Etihad.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the English champions' smoothness in completing the deal has been "impressive".
Man City confirmed in a statement on 12 October Begiristain will leave the club at the end of this season after spending 12 years at the Etihad.
The Spaniard will be replaced by Sporting Lisbon's director of football Viana, who spent four years playing for Newcastle United between 2002 and 2006.
Man City set for 'major change' after high-profile exit Borson revealed Begiristain moving on will be a "major change" for Man City.
He told Football Insider: "I think the key takeaway for me would be the efficiency of the process.
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"The announcement comes out on the Tuesday and then by the Friday the guy has already signed.
"He had clearly already been lined up and they had obviously already done the deal.
"As I understand it, the guy is coming on board in February and will have a handover period with Begiristain all the way through until the end of the season.
"You think about the smoothness of that process compared to some of the other situations we have seen around changes of this type, changes on the football director side. It's pretty impressive.
Txiki Begiristain "Clearly, it will be a new era because Begiristain has been there for 12 years, so it's a very major change. You have to just see.
"I think people get obsessed with individuals and City have got quite a lot of depth there."
In other news, Man City have agreed brilliant new deal - boardroom source.