Gonzalez takes Man City’s spend to £180m – how they dominated window

To increase their January spending, Manchester City have signed Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez for £50 million.

It is the second biggest outlay worldwide in January window history behind Chelsea’s £274m in 2023, according to Transfermarkt.

Gonzalez is City’s fifth signing of the winter transfer window and has penned a four-and-a-half-year contract.

The 23-year-old Spaniard joined Porto in July 2023 after beginning his senior career with Barcelona in 2019.

In 68 appearances for Porto, Gonzalez won the Portuguese Cup last year and has nine goals and nine assists.

Gonzalez said, “This is the ideal opportunity for me at this point in my career.”

“I am 23 and I want to test myself in England. Manchester City is the best place for me to play that game.

” Look at the squad they have here – it’s unbelievable, full of world-class players. Nobody in the world would want to play football in this situation.

City sit fifth in the Premier League, 15 points adrift of leaders Liverpool, following Sunday’s 5-1 defeat at Arsenal.

Since Rodri suffered a significant knee injury in September, they haven’t played in midfield since then.

In the Europa League on Thursday, Gonzalez scored in Porto’s 1-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv to advance to the knockout phase play-offs.

” I know the reputation Pep]Guardiola] has and I cannot wait to work with him. In fact, I am honoured he wants me to play in his team, “Gonzalez added.

Gonzalez’ signing by City is the most recent illustration of the club’s enduring relationship with Barcelona. The 23-year-old is a graduate of La Masia, and made his senior debut in 2021.

He made 37 first-team appearances for the Catalan club before spending the 2022-23 season on loan at Valencia. He signed for Porto in a deal worth about £7 million in July 2023.

Gonzalez was initially perceived as a holding midfielder; Barca B manager Garcia Pimienta called him “the heir to Busquets,” but Xavi Hernandez, then Barcelona manager, saw him more as a box-to-box player in 2023.

Gonzalez has assisted in five goals and five assists in 17 league games this season while playing in a dual midfield pivot and further forward.

” He’s quite an all-rounder, he can play deep but he’s more effective further forward and especially when breaking into the box, “says founder of PortuGOAL Tom Kundert”. He’s scored regularly with late runs and one-touch finishes. “

In the absence of Rodri, the injured midfielder for City struggled, which was clearly demonstrated by the 5-1 defeat by Arsenal on Sunday.

The 6ft 2in Gonzalez could help in that department, though he is not a single pivot and isn’t a like-for-like replacement for Rodri.

” He’s a completely different player to Rodri, the two cannot be compared, either in quality or playing style, “says Kundert.

” He’s stood out at Porto. This is the worst Porto team in 40 years, which would normally mean a lot.

With the purchase of Gonzalez costing around £180 million, City’s spending almost outweighs that of the other Premier League clubs combined.

It is still well short of City’s biggest-ever window when they handed over £225m in the summer of 2017 to bring in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Danilo and Douglas Luiz.

In this window, City paid £33.6 million to Lens for a player who had only cost the French club £84, 000 in July 2023. In this window, center-back Abdukodir Khusanov was the first to pass through the Etihad.

Palmeiras defender Reis arrived for £29.6m, despite the 19-year-old only making 22 senior career appearances and Marmoush, who scored 15 goals in 17 Bundesliga appearances this season for Eintracht Frankfurt, was the third signing for £59m.

After Real Valladolid accused City of encouraging the 18-year-old to break his contract, Bah made a controversial move to Real Valladolid.

City invested a lot in the squad as they wait to find out if they will face penalties for 115 alleged financial violations against the Premier League.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire stated on BBC Radio 5 Live that ” Manchester City have been very successful financially in recent years.”

“Under these profitability and sustainability rules, you are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period. Because of the benefits of qualifying for Europe every year, the city has probably made between £160 and £170 million in profit as a result of the club’s failure to win all of these awards. From a financial perspective, they are in a really strong position.