Manchester City are reportedly ready to rival Liverpool for the potential transfer of Sporting Lisbon centre-back Goncalo Inacio as incoming director Hugo Viana could raid the Portuguese giants on his way out of the club.

Viana will be moving from Sporting to Man City from summer 2025 as he prepares to replace Txiki Begiristain at the Etihad Stadium, and it seems he already has his sights set on raiding his current employers.

According to Defensa Central, one of Viana's top targets for City will be Sporting defender Inacio, who has also been on Liverpool's radar, as sources recently told CaughtOffside.

City already have plenty of quality and depth in defence with players like Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, John Stones and Manuel Akanji, but it seems Viana is keen to improve that area of the pitch with a move for Inacio.

In fairness, Inacio looks like a top talent with a big future in the game, so it could be smart business from MCFC to use the Viana connection to bring him in before one of their rivals gets there first.

Liverpool fans won't be too pleased with this news as a move for a new central defender also surely needs to be a priority for the Reds at the moment amid uncertainty over Virgil van Dijk's future.

Van Dijk is in the final few months of his contract at Anfield, and while it won't be easy to replace such an important player, Inacio looks like just the kind of talent who could be ideal as a long-term successor in that role.

LFC also like Loic Bade as a potential target, so they may have other options if the Inacio deal doesn't work out, but it would certainly be a blow to their plans if the Portugal international were to end up at City instead.