Manchester City scouts were in the stands for the game between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal on Tuesday evening, according to Record (via Sport Witness).
The Portuguese tabloid reports that the Cityzens requested seats to watch the Champions League fixture.
Fans on X have been speculating which players the club were keeping an eye on:
Oooo interesting I’m intrigued now
— MAN CITY FOREVER🩵🏴 (@CityFan0909) November 26, 2024
Hjulmand maybe?@MCFCTone
— mcfc tristan (@GilbergTristan) November 26, 2024
Morten? Or Morita? Who are we looking at there?
— Blueline Hub🩵 (@Blueline_Hub) November 26, 2024
Gyokeres watch 👀
— Emir🇸🇪115 tears🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@FodenCTID) November 26, 2024
Why do we need scouts to this game when we employ Hugo Vianna?
— mazharxaleem (@mazharxaleem) November 26, 2024
There are 2 prime candidates for scouting
It has been reported that City have been watching Sporting’s holding midfielder Morten Hjulmand recently and, considering that the club could make a move to replace Rodri in January, the Denmark international would be a likely target.
Over the weekend, there were also suggestions that City are considering competing with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea for Viktor Gyokeres. However, a deal for the 26-year-old is only expected to be given the green light at the end of the season.
Guardiola is keen to get City’s current players fit and firing
Speaking in the build-up to the Feyenoord game, manager Pep Guardiola insisted that we would see the best of his team once again when players return from injury:
“Our four central defenders are not there, and are not still not ready, ready, ready because they were injured. And our main player for these transitions, that player is Rodri, is not there. And we can’t survive.”
“Because with four central defenders, I’d put Manu [Akanji] and John [Stones] as holding midfielders, right? With Ruben [Dias] behind, with Nathan [Ake], with Josko [Gvardiol] – we will be stable. We would be strong in the box. But we don’t have it.”
City’s injury list is beginning to shorten. They are currently just four players on the treatment table.
Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here