OUSMANE DEMBELE’s agent has been spotted with Manchester City sporting director Hugo Viana.
Moussa Sissoko – no, not the former Premier League midfielder – was recorded entering a hotel in Madrid wearing a white shirt, black trousers, white trainers, and glasses.
He was then snapped chatting to Viana in the lobby, clutching a travel bag by his side.
City’s chief was in Spain for the club’s game against Real on Wednesday.
Dembele, 28, meanwhile, featured for PSG against Chelsea on the same night, helping his side to a 5-2 win with a goal to put them 2-1 up after a lethal counter.
The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner has just under two-and-a-half years left on his current contract in Paris and is in a strong position to make demands having been crowned the world’s best player last year.
It is claimed by reports in Spain from Diario Sport that these were not formal talks between Sissoko and Viana, but it lays the foundation for a potential move further down the line.
Dembele is not said to be making progress in current negotiations to extend his stay at the Parc des Princes.
He has scored 12 goals this season with six assists after struggling through injuries following the Club World Cup.
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The Frenchman hammered in 33 goals and another 15 assists last term, finally delivering on all of his youth promise.
He has long been linked with a move to England, mainly from his Barcelona days.
And City are preparing to continue their major overhaul in the summer with uncertainty around Pep Guardiola’s own future.
It comes less than a year after Viana was appointed to succeed Pep’s great friend Txiki Begiristain as City’s key SD at the start of last summer.
Viana, 43, previously worked at Sporting Lisbon for seven years, where he played between 2000 and 2005.
He oversaw the club’s recruitment of Viktor Gyokeres, Ousmane Diomande, Pedro Porro (from City), Manuel Ugarte, Marcos Edwards, and Raphinha among others.
The Portuguese side also had an impressive track record of selling with Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, Joao Palhinha, Gyokeres, Dario Essugo, Edwards, Abdul Fatawu, Ugarte, and Ugarte all getting significant moves.
As for City, they have revamped Pep’s squad across 12 months, spending big on Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo, Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Tijiani Reijnders.
There are question marks around Marmoush’s place in the side past the end of the season and Oscar Bobb’s January exit to Fulham opens up potential room for Dembele if a major coup is to be pulled off.
