Manchester City still have midfielder Kalvin Phillips still on the wage bill. The Englishman hasn’t featured for the club since December 2023.
Since then, he has been sent out on loan to West Ham United, where he played just 320 minutes in half a season.
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Last term, Phillips featured for Ipswich Town, going on to make 22 appearances for the Tractor Boys.
Pep Guardiola will be keen to move him on permanently this summer, helping to free up £165k-per-week in wages.
Kalvin Phillips post-Leeds (timeless)
City, however, are reportedly set to cash in on another failed midfielder, just months after signing him…
Man City could be ready to sell £50m flop
In January, City secured the signature of Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez for a fee of around £50m.
Given Rodri’s injury, the Spaniard was seen as a replacement for his compatriot, but things haven’t quite worked out. Indeed, he only played 61 minutes for City at the Club World Cup.
Now, according to Manchester City News, Guardiola could be ready to sell the midfielder just months after bringing him to the Premier League.
Nico Gonzalez-1
His representatives have made contact with several clubs across Europe and in Saudi Arabia to gauge potential interest as per the report.
With both Tijjani Reijnders and Rodri capable of playing in Gonzalez’s position, and with the Dutchman capable of offering more going forwards, it appears as though Gonzalez is surplus to requirements.
City will certainly be looking to recoup the majority, if not all, of the £50m they paid to sign the former Porto star just six months ago.
Why Nico Gonzalez could be sold by Manchester City
Since joining City from Leeds United in the summer of 2022, Phillips has featured just 31 times for the club, scoring a solitary goal. He was part of the squad which won the treble during his maiden season, but he failed to make it onto the pitch in both the Champions League final and the FA Cup final.
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At the time of writing, Gonzalez has played just 17 times for the Etihad side during his stint thus far, but it looks as though he - unlike Phillips - won't even reach the 20-game mark the way things are going. Like Phillips, Gonzalez wasn't quite trusted in a final, spending the entire FA Cup final on the bench.
The Englishman failed to score a single goal during his first season at the club, and while Gonzalez netted just once in the Premier League, he could spend even less time in Guardiola's ranks. It is clear that the pair were perhaps the right players at simply the wrong time, no doubt about that.
Upon arriving at the club in January, it looked as though Guardiola had signed a player who might well turn into an ideal heir for Rodri. Indeed, he was even hailed as the "mini-Rodri" by the City boss earlier this year.
Lauded as “superb” by football talent scout Jacek Kulig following the 2023/24 campaign, Gonzalez looked like a coup for City.
Nico Gonzalez's stats in the PL for Man City
Metric
Passes attempted
Pass completion percentage
Aerial duels won
Passes into the final third
Touches
Via FBref
Indeed, during the first half of the 2024/25 season, the midfielder scored seven goals and grabbed six assists for Porto across 29 matches.
At City, however, he failed to kick on from these impressive figures. The 23-year-old made just 17 appearances for the club, with 11 of these being in the starting XI.
In the Premier League last season, he failed to create a big chance, averaged just 0.1 key passes per game and succeeded with only 25% of his attempted dribbles.
This was a far cry from the attacking traits he demonstrated at Porto. Even defensively, Gonzalez won less than 50% of his total duels per game, while also being dribbled past 0.5 times each match for City.
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Now it looks as though he won't be given a chance by the club as the 2025/26 campaign zooms into focus, with his £50m capture looking to be an even bigger mistake than that of Phillips' £42m acquisition.
Rodri and Reijnders are both ahead of him in the pecking order and with Guardiola eyeing another signing or two, don’t be surprised to see Gonzalez on the move before the end of the transfer window.
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