•Nico Gonzalez
Man City want to sign Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez; City are hopeful of concluding a deal for the 23-year-old before the transfer deadline; talks between the clubs are ongoing but City do not want to meet the midfielder’s £50m release clause,
Talks were understood to be ongoing between the clubs today over the transfer fee.
Sky Sports News previously reported City, who lost 5-1 to Arsenal on Sunday, do not want to meet the midfielder’s £50m release clause.
Gonzalez has been included in the Porto squad to face Rio Ave to.
Man City have already spent £130m in this transfer window, bringing in Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.
City have been exploring their options in the market for a new No 6 with former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, one of a number of midfielders they have been looking into.
However, Gonzalez could now be on his way to the Etihad Stadium as City look to continue their January spending spree.
The 23-year-old joined Barcelona’s academy in 2013 and made 27 appearances for the club before joining Porto in a deal worth €8.5m in 2023.
One element to negations is the fact Barcelona would be due 40 per cent of any fee received by Porto for the midfielder.
The Portuguese side also have the option to purchase an additional 20 at any point, reducing Barca’s cut on a possible transfer to 20 per cent.
“I’ve not seen this lad play so don’t know too much about him. But they need players in midfield. A lot of people say it’s not just Rodri. It is just Rodri.
“Rodri sees danger, Rodri is disciplined, Rodri stays in the centre, he gets forward and sits back and protects the backline as well, and he passes the ball through the line very quickly.
“I like Mateo Kovacic, but he will go over and dribble with the ball and people end up all out of position. He and Bernardo Silva get just ruined in the last 30 minutes at Arsenal.
“If you take away the 30 minutes and first 20, City were very good at Arsenal. It was a good away performance. But that takes away the first 20 minutes when they could have been out of the game, and the last 30 minutes – so it’s not much in between that.
“The issue is that Gonzalez comes in for £50m, as soon as Rodri’s fit, that’s it. I don’t think he plays. Unless you play them together and I don’t think you need to.
“This is the problem with wages and buying players, you forget that by the start of next season, this guy is sitting on the bench with big money. You then look at James McAtee with a brilliant young future and they will have to sell him for the fair play rules. It’s a knock-on effect. If they buy Gonzalez, they must be panicking badly to get into the top four.”
Sky Sports’ Tim Sherwood on Deadline Day:
“You can’t compare the Portuguese league with the Premier League. It’s a risk, especially in January.
“What exactly are City signing Gonzalez for? Unless you’re going to bring in someone who is better than what you’ve got and will beat Real Madrid in a Champions League play-off game, other than that they’ve got nothing else to play for.
“They can’t beat Real Madrid with the midfield they had yesterday. They have to find something different to that. But are they ever going to find someone good enough to do that in this transfer market? Absolutely not.
“Douglas Luiz would be the no-risk one because he knows the Premier League, but it looks like that is not going to get done. When everyone’s fit, Gonzalez isn’t going to play and they will ship him out again.”
