Manchester City monitor performance of Liga Portugal contest as Etihad bosses eye next era of talent

Premier League champions Manchester City kept a close eye on proceedings of one European contest in recent days as club chiefs target the next line of superstars.

Details concerning the Champions League holders’ latest recruitment push comes just days after the summer transfer window closed for 2023, following a hectic final few weeks for those in charge at the Etihad Stadium.

While departures took centre stage during the opening weeks of the market for City, signings to strengthen Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad took over and Txiki Begiristain and co. closed the market with four new first-team faces.

Croatian duo Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol joined the club from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively, while Jeremy Doku completed a switch from Ligue 1’s Stade Rennais, before incoming activity was rounded off by the signing of Matheus Nunes from Wolves.

Now, it is a search in the homeland of Nunes that is seemingly at the forefront of some of Manchester City’s thinking, as a new report has detailed their latest ventures in Portugal’s top division.

That is according to the information of Portuguese newspaper Record, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, who state that Manchester City had a club representative watching the game between FC Porto and Arouca in Liga Portugal action last weekend.

Unfortunately the report is unable to provide any further details on the nature of Manchester City’s visit to the game, however the likely scenario is that club officials are currently in the process of scouting divisions across the globe for players of interest.

There is even the wider possibility that Manchester City officials could identify names and profiles that may be of interest to clubs elsewhere in the City Football Group.

The contest between FC Porto and Arouca ended 1-1 and leaves the hosts level at the top of Primeira Liga on 10 points with Boavista and Sporting.

Goals in the game at Estadio do Dragao came late on in the contest as Cristo Gonzalez had initially given Arouca the lead with six minutes of regulation time remaining, before Evanilson would find an equaliser in the 19th minute of 23 added on minutes.