Nico Gonzalez’s Manchester City career could be over before it has even started, with the club “open” to offloading the player just six months after paying £50m for his services.
According to Manchester City News, “intermediaries” have been offering Gonzalez to other clubs, and the 23-year-old is “ready to leave”, having made only 17 appearances and 12 starts.
It appears the arrival of Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan has accelerated plans for Gonzalez to depart the Etihad.
At the moment, there are simply too many central midfielders in the senior setup. In addition to Rodri, Reijnders, Kovacic, and Gonzalez, the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Nico O’Reilly, James McAtee, Bernardo Silva, and Kalvin Phillips can all be deployed in the middle of the park.
Softfootball understands that Guardiola has already expressed his desire to work with a smaller group of players, so cutting the number of midfielders is vital to achieve that aim. With that being the case, it appears the decision has been made to wield the axe on Gonzalez after just six months at the club. It’s very unlikely that they will get their money back on their investment.
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.
Nico 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.
At the moment, 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.
Recall, Softfootball had previously reported that Man City fans had slammed Ederson after costly blunder in Club World Cup exit.
Manchester City’s hopes of ending their trophyless 2024/25 campaign with silverware were dashed shockingly as they crashed out of the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States following a 4-3 defeat to Al Hilal.
City’s exit didn’t sit well with fans, many of whom took to social media to criticise Ederson’s performance. Some labelled his goalkeeping as “shambolic,” while others went as far as comparing him to Manchester United’s Andre Onana. One frustrated supporter even suggested that Ederson should be dropped in America.
