How Man City Dominated Transfer Window With £180m

Manchester City have signed Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez for £50m to take their January spending to £180m.

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

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 began his senior career with Barcelona in 2019 and joined Porto in July 2023.

Gonzalez has scored nine goals and laid on nine assists in 68 appearances for Porto and won the Portuguese Cup last season.

“This is the perfect opportunity for me at this stage of my career,” Gonzalez said.

“I am 23 and I want to test myself in England. There’s no better club than Manchester City for me to do that.

“Look at the squad they have here – it’s unbelievable, full of world-class players. There isn’t a footballer in the world who would not want to be part of this set-up.”

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

They have been without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri in midfield since he suffered a major knee injury in September.

On Thursday, Gonzalez scored in a 1-0 win against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League to help Porto through 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.

City have already signed Egypt forward Omar Marmoush, Brazilian defender Vitor Reis, Uzbekistan defender Abdukodir Khusanov and Sierra Leonean defender Juma Bah, who has since been loaned out to Lens.

‘Good player, but gobsmacked by the fee’
City signing Gonzalez is the latest example of the club’s enduring connection 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. In July 2023 he joined Porto in a deal worth about £7m.

Gonzalez was initially seen as a holding midfielder – Barca B manager Garcia Pimienta described him as “the heir to Busquets” – but by 2023 then-Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez saw him more as an box-to-box player.

At Porto, Gonzalez has played in a double midfield pivot and further forward, scoring five goals and providing five assists in 17 league games this season.

“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.”

City’s midfield has struggled in the absence of the injured Rodri, with a lack of physicality abundantly clear during 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. Normally that would mean a lot but this is the worst Porto team in 40 years.

“That said, it’s not his fault and he’s been just about the only Porto player who has maintained a high performance level over the last couple of seasons. He’s a good player but I have to say I was gobsmacked by the fee.”

City’s spending almost outweighs that of the rest of the Premier League clubs combined, with the acquisition of Gonzalez taking their outlay to about £180m.

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.

Centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov was the first through the Etihad doors during this window, with City paying £33.6m to Lens for a player who only cost the French club £84,000 in July 2023.

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.

Bah joined from Real Valladolid in controversial circumstances after the Spanish club accused City of encouraging the 18-year-old to break his contract.

City’s huge investment in the squad comes as they still wait to discover if they will face any punishment for 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.

“Manchester City have been very successful financially over recent years,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Under these profitability and sustainability rules, you are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-year period. City have probably made somewhere in the region of £160-170m worth of profit because there has been an awful lot of players leaving the club – as well as the benefits of qualifying for Europe every year, the bonuses from sponsors and broadcasters for winning all of these trophies. From a financial perspective, they are in a really strong position.

“The 115 charges relates to the period 2009-2018, so that, to a certain extent, is ancient history. When it does come to pass that we get a judgement, we will have to have a complete reset I think in what they can spend going forwards.”