New Recruit: Nico Gonzalez

Manchester City has finally gotten the player they’ve wanted after waiting all January transfer window, and within one start in the Premier League, you saw exactly why they worked all window to get this one done. Not only does Nico Gonzalez solve problems in the short term as a holding midfielder, but he’s also covering for Rodri and the midfielder they’ve been looking for to play alongside him. The replacement for Gundogan that’s been a long time coming.

Gonzalez is a La Masia graduate, the son of a legendary Spanish footballer, and has ties to the club already with his father a former youth coach. The recruitment mistakes the last couple of seasons are clear, but in hindsight, Nico Gonzalez might be the best fit of all the midfielders Manchester City was linked to.

Career Progression

In 2013 Nico joined Barcelona Academy from Montaneros, aged 11, leaving his local club in Galicia. Playing a year above his age group with the likes of Eric Garcia, Takefusa Kubo, and Ansu Fait.

His father, Fran Gonzalez, is a legend in Spain and played on legendary teams for Deportibo La Coruna. Over 500 appearances for the club, winning La Liga, two Copas del Rey, and two Suupercopas de Espana. Fran was the captain of the 2004 team that reached the Champions League semi-final, beating Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan in the quarter-finals. An incredible character to have as your father, and to learn from, but it’s also brings pressure and expectations.

Nico made his La Liga debut in August 2021 under Koeman, the same year Gavi was also promoted from the academy. Breaking through with Koeman, he went on to start several matches under Xavi (replacing Koeman), and then during the final 17 La Liga matches Nico started once. Busquets was still at the club, and the coaching staff at the time did not see Nico as the holding midfielder the team needed long-term. Pedri, Gavi, and Frenkie de Jon preferred ahead of him in midfield.

Hoping for regular minutes, Nico went on loan to Valencia but struggled with a foot injury (two months), keeping a starting spot, and adapting to the pressing needs of the team. All whilst Valencia was facing the threat of relegation.

Returning to Barcelona, the club did not see him as a Busquets replacement (who left in the summer) and instead brought in Oriol Romeu. Not wanting another bad experience on loan, Nico took a permanent move to Porto.

It wasn’t smooth sailing at first, there were some more foot injury issues, and Sergio Conceicao was a complete shift from the education he had at Barcelona. Similar to the experience Rodri had learning from Simeone. He persisted, worked his way into the team when other players got injured, and has gone on to become a key player for Porto. Their best midfielder this season, and one of the best in Portugal.

Player Profile

These are four heatmaps for Nico Gonzalez in the last four seasons, breaking through at Barcelona, going on loan to Valencia, and then his two years spent at Porto. Coming through the academy at Barcelona and during the 21/22 season you saw him playing in six, getting plenty of comparisons to Busquets. Shifting to Valencia and eventually Porto you saw Nico become something different as he played as a left eight.

Nico is a good ball-winner, not shy from engaging in a 50-50, and always scanning to see where the danger is to apply pressure. For Porto, before making the move to City, he ranked top for possession regains, tackles, and aerial duels contested.

Here are his progressive carries for Porto this season, more on the left side, bursting through gaps in midfield. You’ll notice they’re all generally short and he’s comfortable moving either way. Before leaving, Nico ranked 3rd for progressive carries 10 meters or less. He was also fourth for non-defenders for carries followed by a pass.

His carrying ability was always evident, showing signs even when breaking through into the Barcelona first team, he makes a burst through a gap in midfield into dangerous positions and lays off the ball to a teammate in a good position. He’s aware of his options and can make the pass late under pressure.

Now, what we won’t see as much this season as he’ll be playing in the six, is the movement of Nico Gonzalez into the box. The late movement Gundogan has been famed for during title wins, Nico can do that. It’s not polished, but there is something there in open-play by arriving around the penalty spot and being a threat in set pieces.

This season you’ll see more shooting involvement from Nico on the edge of the box, as Kovacic has also found out, teams will give you a lot of space there and trust they can save/block those shots. For Porto this season in Liga Portugal he’s scored a header from a corner, tapped in during a set piece, arrived to the box to score during a fast break, and scored inside the box, as space opened up for a cutback.

‘Rodri Coded’

When the interest in Nico was announced by Fabrizio Romano, everyone was rushing to put out content, City fans wanted to get a look at him through comps, clips, and watching back matches. Comparisons were flying around about who he was similar to. Playing at more of an eight at Porto allowed him to display his carrying ability and movement into the box. You saw a fair few people see a bit of Declan Rice in Nico but from minute one, it was Rodri to me. Not in the sense he’s like for like, or a regen, but he’s Rodri coded in his actions on/off the ball. Clean and tidy in the pivot, can go either way when facing down the field under pressure, and decide as late as possible which way to go. His minutes against Leyton Orient and Newcastle displayed that.

All Manchester City fans would have recognized this pass straight away, it’s the one Rodri made to Mahrez and Walker so many times, over the top into the box. This time it’s Nico over to Savinho.

That ability under pressure to be comfortable shifting the ball on either side is shown in the pass map from against Newcastle last weekend. Nico Gonzalez is the first midfielder to complete 100+ passes on their PL debut on record, as well as the best completion rate by any midfielder on a PL debut (97% - min. 50 passes).

Another pass we saw return more frequently was the one that fizzed between the lines to Phil Foden on the half-turn, floating across the Newcastle backline.

Nico is almost always one or two touch. Compared to Kovacic who has the instinct to carry first and dribble into space, to take more touches which just slows down the tempo.

Now, these situations look to be simple but as we’ve seen throughout this season Manchester City has struggled to deal the them. Clean and tidy from Nico under pressure, something that Kovacic and Gundogan have made a mess of when in the role themselves.

Another situation we’ve seen countless times, that opposition teams have pounced on, Nico can spot and win back the ball. That starts from his positioning in the middle of the pitch, not dragged out, ready to jump. Manchester City then regains possession, moves the ball around, and gets back into shape.

If you want to learn more about how the positioning and passing of Nico Gonzalez helped Manchester City be structured better on the pitch, check out this thread linked below from Jon Mackenzie. 👇

Wider Impact

In the short term, Nico is going to play as the number six, and as we all saw against Newcastle, he gives the team the structure to build on. With the education he’s had at La Masia, it looked like he’d been at Manchester City for a year already. You saw how much better the whole team looked, especially Gundogan and Rico Lewis.

Long term he’s going to play alongside Rodri and shift into the eight role Gundogan played. Use his carrying ability and box movement, as well as free up Rodri to be more involved higher up the pitch himself. All whilst being an option to rotate with Rodri.

This is the start of moving the midfield back into having a better age profile, who is still going to have his very best years to come when Rodri leaves the club. It’s also the start because the club still needs to buy more players in midfield and shift around the pecking order for young academy players (O’Reilly). Decide on whether Rico Lewis is now a midfielder and if Perrone or Echeverri will stay with the team next season.

More Content?

If you’re looking for more content on Nico Gonzalez then check out the podcast, video, and thread linked below. 👇

Nico Gonzalez isn’t the only new signing during the January transfer window, if you want to learn more about the other players then check out the articles linked below. 👇