Man City are getting creative with Hugo Viana's biggest transfer window challenge

One down, how many to go? The Manchester City exodus has begun with Kyle Walker heading to Burnley, but the job has only just got started for new director of football Hugo Viana this summer.

Walker is the first City player to be sold this summer and at least three or four must follow him out of the door, and that figure could rise to as high as six or seven if Pep Guardiola gets his way.

The transfer window started promisingly for City, with four new arrivals for an £111million outlay in the early weeks of June, but the challenge was always going to be shifting players who clearly had no future at the Etihad.

The deal that will take 35-year-old Walker to the Premier League new boys is a sign of how creative Viana will have to get over the next seven to eight weeks. The priority with the England international was getting his sizeable salary off the wage bill, and that has been achieved.

After a loan spell to AC Milan that didn't convince the Serie A side to take a £4.2million option on the six-time Premier League winner, a permanent departure had to be the aim. That has been achieved, and if Walker makes his spell at Turf Moor a success, it could be worth £5million to City. Achieving any of that figure will be a bonus on top of the wage savings.

Viana can now turn attention to finding a way to shift Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish. Phillips will prove to be especially challenging, given that he is currently injured. Barely anything has gone right for him since his move from Leeds United three years ago, including a loan move to West Ham last season. His stock has fallen dramatically.

The same is true of Grealish, although there is likely to be more interest in him. Neither will attract anything close to the sum City