Nico Gonzales is 23 with over 170 appearances behind him who was signed for £50m. He isn't a raw kid we have picked up. Lose the aggro and the insults. It is telling that Pep favoured both Gundo and Kovacic ahead of him. Especially as recently as last Monday morning.
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14 | Nico Gonzalez - 2025/26
- Thread starter Kippax Kidd
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blueparrot
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No.So were going to ship out Nico G and hold onto Gundo and Bernardo. Fucking ridiculous. Like pep said months back. Just give me my players back. Well he has them back now. So we can expect a line up of Ed Akanji Dias Ake Josko Rodri Bernardo Gundo Reijnders Phil Haaland. What about the future and bedding in new players? Or we holding off to give pep one last swansong with the boys and delaying our transition another year
chiswick blue
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We may see O'Reilly being played as a DM in cup games, I recall Pep stating that he sees this as his natural position. If this is the case we may see Gonzalez as an 8 for some games
How can anyone who has watched Khusanov to date conclude he is not good enough? Based on what? The fact that he is young, strong, really fast, good in the air, fearless? There's a reason he's considered one of Europe's best young CBs with a really high ceiling. I'm to believe he's not good enough. That's absolute bullshit! If Pep doesn't rate him, and I say IF because I find it almost impossible to believe Pep doesn't, there needs to be an explanation because it won't be down to footballing abilities.You have to earn the right to play there. None are good enough to do so.
Phillips agreed was just a waste, Nunes a waste but at least paid some of that back.
Khusanov and Gonzalez we just can't say a waste for sure, both young and were bodies brought in the help us get CL football. We can probably recoup a large chunk of their fees, along with the CL money earned. They're also not gone yet but I think the rumours are true.
Wirtz turned us down and the club might not have wanted to do the deal financially anyway, both can be true.
In the modern environment, clubs spend and waste money trying to solve problems. United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal have all done it in recent seasons. We're not above it.
I think the view that Gonzales is not good enough for us is a wrong way to look at it. The right way in my opinion is to say he is not good enough YET! He might be talented enough, but his understanding and speed of thought is still behind schedule. Hence he isn't good enough yet, nor does Pep feel a requirement to forcibly install him.Pep might be bang on the money with his assessments on these players. Philips was 100% not good enough for us. Nico might not be good enough for us. As you say, Pep is not obligated to play them. However, I have to believe that Pep is heavily involved in which players we target and therefore I do think there is an obligation on him to not keep wasting £50m.
I think its hard to tell how quickly a plsyer can pick up a new system. That he was La Masia trained and naturally talented, may have given Pep and upper Management the confidence he'd pixk things up quickly. But if he hasn't, nothing Pep can do about that.We are constantly told that buying players takes months of planning and no stone is left unturned, yet our manager is throwing £50m players in the bin after a handful of games. If he is able to determine so quickly that a player is not good enough, it would be really useful if he did this prior to the purchase.
Again, there is something off about his game. In some areas he is Uber talented overall (i.e. his press game is elite. His movement to get open is good. His on ball time decisions are still shaky and his passing is guarded.
He just simply may not be ready yet
I don't disagree with you here, but I'd just add that we often make these errors when we convince ourselves we are in a desperate need to sign a player ( the Livramento folks should take note).Someone needs to remind him that unfortunately in the football world, we don’t get to try-before-we-buy and 14 days to return an unwanted player.
I love the guy but not even he gets a pass on such woeful moves in the transfer market.
Phillips, Nunes and Gonzo fit that bill. But unlike the 2 former, i think Gonzo's pedigree ( La Masia, footballing dad, prior history with City, etc) made him a low risk panic buy
For me, Gonzalez isn't a lost cause. He is just a normal player who'd take a year to fit into a Pep styled team.
Alao, i think the front pffice has a long-term vuew of this... In 12-24 months max, Gundo, Bernado and Kovacic are gone. Our CM core be Rodri, Rudolph and Gonzo.
At that point he is pushing a 30 year old Rodri for starter minutes next yo a 28 year old Rudolph. That's the long term plan. And its easy to see.
Now the player himself might be worried and seeking immediate play time but long-term he is set. That's why I've said my guess is that he isn't playing in this transitional period but likely will find his place eventually if patient.
I can speak for the patience of our fans though :)
blueparrot
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Think we will have 4 players for the 6 and 8. Rodri, Gonzalez, Reijnders and O'Reilly.We may see O'Reilly being played as a DM in cup games, I recall Pep stating that he sees this as his natural position. If this is the case we may see Gonzalez as an 8 for some games
I disagree with Nunes as a waste he is slowly proving to be a valuable asset especially with his pace.You have to earn the right to play there. None are good enough to do so.
Phillips agreed was just a waste, Nunes a waste but at least paid some of that back.
Khusanov and Gonzalez we just can't say a waste for sure, both young and were bodies brought in the help us get CL football. We can probably recoup a large chunk of their fees, along with the CL money earned. They're also not gone yet but I think the rumours are true.
Wirtz turned us down and the club might not have wanted to do the deal financially anyway, both can be true.
In the modern environment, clubs spend and waste money trying to solve problems. United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal have all done it in recent seasons. We're not above it.
Strange that we win when Nico plays. When the other two play we tend to drop points.Gonzalez was great against Newcastle and then largely irrelevant in every other feature.
Both Bernardo and Gundogan weren't supposed to play as many games as they did, the injuries meant they were slogged. They're both still better than Gonzalez though, I know age comes into it but we're only bothered about this upcoming season.
If we had a game tomorrow to win the league and you have to pick between Gonzalez, Gundogan and Bernardo, there's no doubt Nico would be last pick.
We only have 3 midfield spots:
1) Rodri
2) Reijnders
3) Bernardo
4) Foden
5) Gundogan
6) Cherki
7) Kovacic
8) Gonzalez
Plus Lewis, O'Reilly, Marmoush that could play in there. Plus maybe another new signing.
Again its not just whether he's good enough, its also whether he's willing to wait or fight for game time.
I would hold onto him but I dont see him as anything other than a backup this season.
Games nico played we averaged 2.27 points per game
Gundo and Bernie we were averaging around 1.87;points per game when they played.
Problem is not Kova and Nico. The problem are those two players
uwe rosler 28
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We signed rodri for £62 million and it took him a good year to hold down a regular starting spot. I don't think pep will have decided yet that he's not good enough it will be more about him learning the role he wants him to play and learning of rodri which he hasn't been able to do yet.Nico Gonzales is 23 with over 170 appearances behind him who was signed for £50m. He isn't a raw kid we have picked up. Lose the aggro and the insults. It is telling that Pep favoured both Gundo and Kovacic ahead of him. Especially as recently as last Monday morning.
thomas1307
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in the early parts of pep's reign we had fernandinho silva kdb gundo bernardo are midfield used to be stacked and was able to accommodate them all you need to believe in yourself that you are good enough which i think nico is definitely good enough maybe it's agent talk to get city and pep to give him assuranceI feel sorry for the guy, with Rodri coming back and Reijnders joining, it would be difficult for him to get more game time. Plus he probably already understood that Pep would rather play washed Gundo and Bernado over him any day.
I think Rico is pretty good at RB. So I'm the wrong person to ask that :) But, being caught on the ball at CM isnt a minor issue. Especially when you have players who can keep it all day in those positions ( Rodri, Beenie, Kova, Gundo and now Rudolph).Point taken, but there are more than enough legit explanations for why others shouldn't be playing either yet Pep keeps playing them. Just as an example, how many times are we going to see Rico Lewis at RB? One doesn't have to be Pep to see that doesn't work.
So in light of everything we've seen of Nico G. Pep is not playing him because he's been caught in possession 2 or 3 times? If that's truly the case then Pep really needs to give his head a wobble. I hope that's not true for everyone's sake.
Thats however besides the point. I think Pep wants him to get better im some aspects. His long term prognosis looks great. Its his Short teem that's dicey. Id say let the season play out he'll find his role
So will Rico too by the way :)
Pep gave Rodri plenty of game time during the first season to fully despite his earlier struggles to fully adapt. He has used Nico G more sparingly especially during the CWC.We signed rodri for £62 million and it took him a good year to hold down a regular starting spot. I don't think pep will have decided yet that he's not good enough it will be more about him learning the role he wants him to play and learning of rodri which he hasn't been able to do yet.
blueparrot
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Don't thinks so, Pep will play him when he's ready to play him.Could it be that Pep just doesn’t want to play him?
But the club want to keep him and don’t want to sell him.
Mendes then has gone to Romano to put pressure on
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Pep. The same players will move to other clubs have a field day and then the same people who say „ he has to learn the system“ will complain that we didn’t go for him/ them.This needs to be investigated or higher up need to do something.. causally paying 50mill and players sit in the bench. What is going on with our recruitment
Kippax Kidd
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100%Could it be that Pep just doesn’t want to play him?
But the club want to keep him and don’t want to sell him.
Mendes then has gone to Romano to put pressure on
Kippax Kidd
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But you are agreeingDonn't thinks so, Pep will play him when he's ready to play him.
Nunes starts at RB. Kovacic was a cog rotational backup and was fantastic last season. Phillips was a mistake, granted.Just an absolutely appalling use of resources. Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes and now Nico G. The best part of £200m.
Not that surprising re Nico G, the guy had a release clause that we activated on the last day of the window which says that he clearly wasn't their number one target.
Add to that the fact the guy barely plays despite Kovacic, Gundogan and Bernardo all playing appalling in stretches and it's not hard to see why they're wanting to offload.
And Nico just got here 6 months ago. Fans really need to chill with the dramatics.
Day in, day out? You do watch the matches? Barca essentially waived Gundo.Yes I agree on criticising the spending, what I dont agree on is saying its too soon to write new signings off over players that are already here.
Other players are given more opportunities because as fans we dont see the day in, day out.