Gonzalez joins Porto from Barcelona in €8.5m deal

Porto have completed the signing of Nico Gonzalez from Barcelona in a deal worth €8.5million.

The 21-year-old midfielder has signed a five-year contract to keep him at the club until 2028.

Barcelona have inserted a €30million buy-back clause into the deal, which is active until the summer of 2025. A sell-on clause has also been included, with Barcelona entitled to 40 per cent of any future sale.

Gonzalez, a graduate from La Masia, broke into the Barcelona first-team alongside Gavi in 2021 before spending the 2022-23 season on loan at Valencia, featuring 26 times in La Liga.

He was one of the candidates to take over the holding midfield role at Barcelona left vacant by the departure of Sergio Busquets this summer. However, Xavi did not trust Gonzalez in this position and preferred him in a more advanced role where there was not room for him in the squad due to Barcelona’s depth of options.

Before embarking on their pre-season tour of the United States, Xavi and Gonzalez had an internal meeting where the forward was informed that he was not going to have an important role to play this season and was advised to look elsewhere for regular first-team football.

Upon signing for Porto, Gonzalez said: “I can’t be more excited to start playing here. Since the rumours appeared, everyone has spoken well of FC Porto. I had some Portuguese teammates who spoke very well and everyone created great expectations for the club.

“I really want to meet everyone, especially Pepe, who is a great example and from whom I can learn a lot. I can promise the fans a lot of sacrifice and a lot of work on the field, but above all that I will fight to give them titles.”