Manchester City
Premier League • England
Stunning Man City twist as January signing asks to leave
Nico Gonzalez is reportedly looking to leave Manchester City this summer, despite having only joined in January, with clubs on two continents keeping tabs on the situation.
Gonzalez is a product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy. He graduated to their first team in 2021 and went on to make 37 senior appearances. The central midfielder had a loan spell at Valencia before joining Porto for a fee in the region of €7-8million in July 2023.
Gonzalez established himself as one of the best midfielders in Portugal, helping Porto win two domestic cups.
After Rodri suffered a season-ending ACL injury in September, Man City swooped for Gonzalez to replace him in January.
The Spaniard joined City in a £50m deal, penning a four-and-a-half-year contract.
Gonzalez made 11 Premier League appearances during the second half of the campaign but only featured once at the Club World Cup.
According to Manchester City News, Gonzalez’s City future ‘is in doubt’ as he is ‘ready to leave’ this summer so he can become a guaranteed starter elsewhere.
Rodri has suffered an injury setback and City are waiting to find out the extent of the issue, but Gonzalez seemingly does not want to wait around and is pushing for a quick exit.
He knows that when City’s squad is at full strength, Pep Guardiola would rather use Rodri and summer arrival Tijjani Reijnders in midfield.
Guardiola has already ‘lost faith’ in the 23-year-old, despite him only being at the Etihad for around six months.
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Intermediaries lining up next Nico Gonzalez move
Intermediaries have begun the exit process on Gonzalez’s behalf, having ‘made contact with a host of clubs’ in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
The player is ‘one to watch’ during the current transfer window as his City career could be ‘short and sweet’.
Following the shock Club World Cup defeat to Al-Hilal, Guardiola revealed that Rodri had asked to come off in extra time after feeling a problem. The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner had only come onto the pitch in the second half.
Guardiola has admitted that the summer tournament in the US could affect how his team starts the new Premier League campaign. They want to get back in the mix for the title but their players will have had less rest than most of their rivals.
So far this summer, City have brought in Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri. Kevin De Bruyne and Scott Carson have both been released, with Kyle Walker set to follow them out of the Etihad.
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