City and their fans can breathe easy. Yes, Txiki Begiristain has gone. But with the right resources and with the right briefing, Viana proved himself over these past three months a more than capable replacement.
There were no headlines. Barely a skerrick of a mention regarding the Portuguese' impact on this summer's market. But Viana was the star. The influence. In the best of Txiki traditions, Viana didn't seek to create news, nor controversy. He was strictly business. Low-key. But always at the very sharp end of things.
The lead act was the manager. And then after Enzo Maresca's appointment - a deal Viana had been working on from the moment he took the reins from Begiristain - followed Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Allan Elias and then in a last day rush, Enzo Fernandez and Iliman Ndiaye.
Even with the departures of Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones, more than anyother transfer mover-and-shaker, Viana reshaped City and it's squad for the better this transfer window.
He burned off Manchester United to convince Anderson to choose City. He did the same - at another level - to land Bouaddi ahead of every major club on the continent. Ditto Fernandez, with a little help from the Argentine's former Chelsea manager. And as the sale of Savio to Tottenham went through, rather than wait and hope that Allan could prove himself a readymade replacement, Viana aggressively stepped in to ferry an outstanding Ndiaye away from Everton. For this column, like with Antoine Semenyo in January, Ndiaye has everything in his game to thrive within City's environment.
Which is one of the keys to this transformation of City's squad. With so much change and flux at the end of last season, Viana and the club's board refused to play a game of 'wait-and-see'. Where others would've hesitated (just think of that lot down the road), they jumped onto the front foot and acted. A culture of winning. Of perfection. All built and established over a decade under Guardiola could not be allowed to gradually decay. A message had to be sent - both internally and externally. This club was not about to enter an era of decline.
And when the clock reached 11pm on September 1, Tuesday evening, City - thanks to the work of Viana - had affirmed that message. There is youth and potential - enormous potential - in Bouaddi. There's a World Cup winner in Enzo. Premier League know-how - and more potential - in Anderson. And the excitement and dynamism Ndiaye will bring across from the Hill Dickinson stadium. And then there's the bolter. The mystery. Allan. Not a replacement for Savio, but certainly the best attacking - and established - talent available from the Brasileiro Serie A.
Certainly Tim Vickery, the renowned South American expert, believes so. We spoke to Tim on Friday about the former Palmeiras attacker, whom he believes could prove a valuable asset to Maresca in terms of versatility.
“He’s a versatile all-round footballer," Vickery told Football Presse. "There’s a winger in him, but he can also be an extra man in midfield and he can defend well.
“He’s not a Brazilian wonderkid in the sense that he’s going to be the next Savinho.
“Aston Villa came in first and Palmeiras said no. Then Manchester City came in, the player wanted to go, and City paid more than Villa. In a perfect world, Palmeiras wouldn’t have sold him.
"Savinho was a final-third winger. Allan is much more of an all-round player.”
Of course, with new names. New voices. A different system and tactical approach. There will be inconsistency. Valleys. It's natural. Inevitable. But this is a squad to challenge Arsenal's title defence. There's no doubt about that. Indeed, Manchester City - even in this transition - remain the champions' biggest threat.
And that threat will strengthen if City's senior players accept and embrace what will be needed from them to help Maresca and his staff through this bedding down period. For the likes of Ruben Dias, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden, Viana has delivered. The competition. That much-needed edge. It's still there. Even with Bernardo, Rodri and Stones gone, the battle for a starting XI spot remains as intense as ever.
But as we say, there will be dips as this team gets used to eachother. And Maresca will need the support of Dias and co to manage their way through the inevitable slump.
For this column, the slide and decline of Manchester United post-Sir Alex didn't begin with the David Moyes appointment. Instead, it came from the reaction of the senior players at the time. Instead of rallying around Moyes, the players would openly question his methods, his tactics and his approach. Rio Ferdinand gave it away in his book, when recalling how Moyes had the players prepare for a clash with Bayern Munich in a local public park.
"To practise our set pieces and stuff we went to a public park," Ferdinand wrote. "It was bizarre! Local people started coming from all over to watch us and take photos and videos. It was amateurish. I mean, why not just send Bayern an email or a DVD?"
This was no one-off. And instead of trusting the manager and backing him fully, the senior group at United spent their time chirping away and questioning everything he did.
City, under Maresca, cannot afford the same from their senior group. This is a new era with new ways of thinking - and for City not to stumble, they need everyone to buy in.
Viana and his team have done their job. This is a Manchester City squad created with the potential to succeed. It's now over to the players to make that potential a reality.