After Nico Gonzalez moved to Manchester City on Deadline Day from FC Porto, Ali Tweedale of Opta Analyst says that while he is not a direct replacement for Rodri, he will bring plenty of quality to their midfield.
Manchester City have finally signed a central midfielder. Nico Gonzalez has joined from Porto in a deal worth a reported £50 million.
But given City’s problems through the autumn and well into winter, it may be a mild frustration to supporters that it took this long to acquire any kind of reinforcement in an area of the pitch where they’ve been light ever since Ballon d'Or winner Rodri suffered a season-ending injury against Arsenal in September.
City have scarcely looked any lighter in the middle than they did in Sunday’s reverse fixture at Emirates Stadium, which Arsenal won 5-1 – City’s heaviest defeat in a Premier League away match since January 2017.
City have now conceded four goals or more in four matches this season, which is the most in a single campaign in Pep Guardiola’s career. Clearly, they are too soft defensively without Rodri.
But replacing Rodri was always going to be entirely impossible. The January market is a difficult enough time to buy top-quality players simply because good, ambitious teams don’t want to lose important players midway through the season.
Then you have the fact that Rodri is one of the best players in the world. If you believe those who voted in the 2024 Ballon d’Or, then he is literally the best player on the planet.
So, by signing Gonzalez, how close have City come to filling that Rodri-shaped hole?
Barcelona beginnings
There's no doubting his technical talents, having come through the ranks at Guardiola’s former club, Barcelona.
Gonzalez (below, right) went on to play 27 times in LaLiga (12 starts) and seven times in Europe (four starts) for Barcelona over the course of the 2021/22 season under club legend Xavi, who gave him his senior debut when he brought him on in midfield for a certain Sergio Busquets.
That substitution didn't help the misdirected clamour at the club for Gonzalez to go on to become Busquets' replacement at the club.
The 23-year-old's footballing education bodes well for a career under Guardiola at Man City, and it will come as no surprise that he is extremely comfortable on the ball and efficient at moving it forward.
Over the course of his entire senior career across all competitions, he has completed an impressive 88.6 per cent of his passes.
He only spent one more year of his career at Barcelona, moving to Valencia on loan for the 2022/23 season before permanently joining Porto for 2023/24. And after 18 mixed months in Portugal, he is now off to City.
Porto finished a disappointing third in his one full season there, though they did win the Portuguese Cup (the Taca de Portugal). This season, however, has been even worse so far.
Porto are again third in the league but as good as out of the title race, now eight points behind Sporting CP, and they only just got through the league phase of the UEFA Europa League.
Usually a UEFA Champions League regular, they will need to overcome Roma in a two-legged play-off to make the Europa League knockouts this season.
How Gonzalez and Rodri differ
In a nightmare of a campaign, however, Gonzalez has been a shining light.
Porto required a 1-0 win at Maccabi Tel Aviv to confirm their place in the play-off round, and the identity of their goalscorer that day is telling. Not for the first time this season, Gonzalez was their standout player.
That night, he made what has become something of a trademark run into the box from central midfield to head a Joao Mario cross into the corner of the net as Porto snuck into the play-offs.
That kind of run and finish, while of huge importance to Porto, helps show why City fans shouldn’t get too excited about Gonzalez being a direct replacement for Rodri.
While Rodri does provide some goal threat – as he showed with his Champions League-winning goal in the 2023 final – that tends to come from outside the box rather than with runs beyond the opposition’s defence.
Rodri is far more of a tempo-controlling regista – more in the Busquets mould – than Gonzalez. City’s new signing is more of a box-to-box midfielder, able to crash into the opposition’s area with late runs from deep.
He is, nonetheless, a good ball-winner. In frame, he looks similar to Busquets and Rodri, and he doesn’t shy away from a 50-50.
In the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season, he ranks seventh overall for fouls committed (36), while he also ranks top for Porto for possession regains (73), tackles (34) and aerial duels contested (68).
But he has never really fit the profile of a Busquets or Rodri.
Gonzalez stands out more for his ball-carrying ability, and he regularly drives through midfield with the ball.
Progressive carries – moving with the ball at least five metres towards the opposition’s goal – is a metric generally dominated by defenders and wide players who have more space to move into (Gonzalez ranks 31st for progressive carries of any length, with 110).
But limiting them to at most 10 metres, the Spaniard jumps up to third, with 73.
He is an expert at bursting through a gap and laying off a pass to a team-mate, tending to make a good decision having carried the ball a few metres; rather than trying too much, he looks to find a team-mate with a simple pass.
He ranks fourth among non-defenders for carries followed by a pass (185) in the Portuguese top flight this season.
He then often continues his run forward and adds another body to the penalty area, and he is a real threat there.
Despite playing in central (and sometimes defensive) midfield for an underperforming Porto side this season, only eight players across the whole Portuguese league have scored more non-penalty goals than him (five).
He is an all-action, dynamic midfielder who impacts matches at both ends of the pitch.
So, what City certainly have not got their hands on is a direct replacement for Rodri, but the truth is that should never have been the aim.
Having played half of the season without their midfield marshal, City have got through a significant chunk of the time he will miss.
Adding midfield bite
The aim for the rest of the season should be to find a solution involving a few players, and Gonzalez can help that happen.
Firstly, he will add some much-needed bite and defensive nous to central midfield alongside Mateo Kovacic.
Against Arsenal on Sunday, the attack-minded midfield trio of Kovacic, Bernardo Silva and Omar Marmoush was just completely inadequate for the task at hand.
Beyond this season, Gonzalez could play alongside Rodri in a physically dominant two who can provide a platform for the attacking players to flourish. He is both technical and physical enough to help improve this City team.
City have gone big this January, spending an estimated £180 million in total – around £10m short of the 19 other Premier League teams combined.
In fact, per Transfermarkt their January spend is the second-highest amount ever by a single club in the winter window, as they look to start the rebuild which this season’s form has proved to be necessary
And now they have finally added a ball-winning midfielder to their ranks.
Visit Opta Analyst's page to learn more about Man City and their new signing.
