Nico Gonzalez joined Manchester City from FC Porto on deadline day of the January transfer window for a fee in excess of €60 million and has already made a huge impression at the Etihad Stadium following his Premier League debut.
The 23-year-old La Masia graduate played all 90 minutes when Manchester City cruised to a 4-0 demolition of Newcastle United in his full Premier League debut, after being forced off with a slight injury in the first half of the FA Cup win over Leyton Orient.
His presence in the middle of the park against Newcastle proved pivotal to City looking close to the intimidating team Pep Guardiola bullied other teams in Europe with over the last five years – a dominance many can attribute to a handful of players, including Rodri.
Rodri has been sidelined since September 2024 when he tore suffered an ACL injury during the first half of the clash against Arsenal, with Manchester City struggling to keep pace with Liverpool and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League and, at this moment, on the brink of crashing out of the Champions League albeit at the hands of Real Madrid.
The Spanish midfielder is not expected back until the end of April, making Guardiola to go into the January transfer window in search of a player with something close to Rodri’s profile… and going by Gonzalez’s Premier League debut, he may have succeeded.
Playing with the 23-year-old Gonzalez, Man. City did not concede a big chance in a match for the first time this season. He also completed 100 passes out of 103 attempts, making him the first midfielder (with 50+ passes) to complete 100 or more passes in their Premier League debut.
He also became the first player to complete a combination of 100+ passes, 95%+ pass accuracy and 10+ passes in the final third since Rodri did so in last April against Brighton and last May against Fulham. Coincidentally, all three instances saw City end the day with a 4-0 win each time.
Since Rodri got sidelined, Guardiola has tried filling the void with Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes, and John Stones. None were able to marshall the midfield in the manner Nico Gonzalez managed to do against Newcastle.
It is safe to say more performances from the new City man at that level will get the club back to the top, and ease Rodri of the pressure of returning from such a delicate injury without healing properly.