Nico González

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Viana aside, several of our board are diehard Barca fans, they’ll know him very well too. Possibly one on our radar since before we appointed HV.
 
Agree has never been known for his pace. But i think it's obvious to see our midfielders 'lack of pace with Gundogan and Kovacic is one of our weaknesses.
Our midfield under Pep has never been built on pace, Fernadinho, Rodri, KDB, Silva, Gundogan. While quicker and more energetic than our midfield is currently pace has never been the top requirement, intelligence , positioning, passing, movement, control, pressing have always been the main requirements.
 
(Benfica fan if you don’t remember me it’s been a while haha)
Porto is for me what united is for you but I’ll try to be objective

He is probably Porto’s best player together with Diogo Costa. Decent player for sure, however I am not 100% sure he is good enough to solve your midfield problems at least not short term, he is still young so obviously has some potential.

Your board slept a bit in the summer, they thought the rebuild wasn’t necessary yet but turns out it was.

Missed out big time on Joao Neves, we sold him for 60M to PSG which was a terrible sale, he is exceptional. I thought at the time that city should have gone for him and I believe your season would be very different if you had. But now it’s easy to say obviously.
 
Don’t know anything about the guy, but at the same time I fully trust the board if he’s the one they’ve pinpointed to bring in. Assume Viana knows him well from his time in Portugal too.

We’ve made a few balls ups with midfield targets recently but what I will say is when we sign these lesser known players from abroad more often than not they tend to be a success. Seems to me like It’s the premier league experienced, lower league big money midfield buys that tend to underwhelm (Nunes, Phillips, Rodwell going back further etc).

And people going on about pace give me a break. A Football brain is the only thing that matters in that position. Rodri prime example, Busquets, Toni Kroos some of the best ever in that position all ‘slow’.

Not suggesting he’s anywhere near on that level at present but seeing one or two vids he clearly has something. Pep can hopefully work his magic with him if it happens.

Saw one minute of a YouTube comp and it was him putting himself about winning duels in midfield. That’s more than any of our current players do. That’s enough for me
 
Our midfield under Pep has never been built on pace, Fernadinho, Rodri, KDB, Silva, Gundogan. While quicker and more energetic than our midfield is currently pace has never been the top requirement, intelligence , positioning, passing, movement, control, pressing have always been the main requirements.
Yes the pace was on the wings.
 
Whilst he isn't absolutely rapid, the first few yards are in the head and his positional awareness and composure on the ball mean he has exactly what we have been missing. Gundo has certainly lost his legs but, like De Bruyne, age and fatigue has led to them losing that mental edge they had to get half a yard through their technical ability and intelligence. I feel like you can see Gundo's brain telling his legs what to do now, he's declined so much! And De Bruyne looked like he was having trouble staying on his feet let alone moving them!
 
(Benfica fan if you don’t remember me it’s been a while haha)
Porto is for me what united is for you but I’ll try to be objective

He is probably Porto’s best player together with Diogo Costa. Decent player for sure, however I am not 100% sure he is good enough to solve your midfield problems at least not short term, he is still young so obviously has some potential.

Your board slept a bit in the summer, they thought the rebuild wasn’t necessary yet but turns out it was.

Missed out big time on Joao Neves, we sold him for 60M to PSG which was a terrible sale, he is exceptional. I thought at the time that city should have gone for him and I believe your season would be very different if you had. But now it’s easy to say obviously.
Shame we missed out on Neves, he was very impressive against City.
 
(Benfica fan if you don’t remember me it’s been a while haha)
Porto is for me what united is for you but I’ll try to be objective

He is probably Porto’s best player together with Diogo Costa. Decent player for sure, however I am not 100% sure he is good enough to solve your midfield problems at least not short term, he is still young so obviously has some potential.

Your board slept a bit in the summer, they thought the rebuild wasn’t necessary yet but turns out it was.

Missed out big time on Joao Neves, we sold him for 60M to PSG which was a terrible sale, he is exceptional. I thought at the time that city should have gone for him and I believe your season would be very different if you had. But now it’s easy to say obviously.
Thought Sporting were your derby

Understand Porto though

Is that prick still manager of them

Edit just checked and he’s not
 
Whilst he isn't absolutely rapid, the first few yards are in the head and his positional awareness and composure on the ball mean he has exactly what we have been missing. Gundo has certainly lost his legs but, like De Bruyne, age and fatigue has led to them losing that mental edge they had to get half a yard through their technical ability and intelligence. I feel like you can see Gundo's brain telling his legs what to do now, he's declined so much! And De Bruyne looked like he was having trouble staying on his feet let alone moving them!
Your first line makes me think of Gareth Barry who had the pace of a fatigued snail but read the game like no other.
More of him would do.
 
Just about remember him from Barca. Didn't think he had much about him then, seemed like just another one of the barca academy lads who would fade away, but that was a very quick, harsh judgement based on a few appearances of a young kid. Seen nothing of him since, he could well be the business now and exactly what we need.

have to wonder why Barca wouldn't be interested in bringing him back though, they need this kind of player themselves and if they've got a buy back and sell on clauses on him even them, with their infinite levers could afford to get him back.
 
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