Manchester City's midfielder Nico Gonzalez eyes the ball during the warm-up ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 match against Al-Hilal
Nico Gonzalez made just one start for Manchester City at the Club World Cup
Nico Gonzalez's future has been surprisingly thrust into the spotlight this summer.
The midfielder only arrived at Manchester City in January when a £50million move was concluded for the Spaniard. Yet a matter of months on and questions are being raised as to whether he might move on.
The Manchester Evening News understands that the 23-year-old is expected to remain at the Etihad and be counted on to help City reclaim past glories during the 2025-26 campaign, but that a tempting offer could mean the midfielder departs.
It adds to the squad confusion ahead of the new season with Pep Guardiola keen to reduce the numbers ahead of the new campaign. Here the MEN writers have their say on the Gonzalez situation.
If you were Nico Gonzalez, you wouldn't be happy with the way things were going at City. Things started so brightly but not only was he benched for nearly every game of the run-in as Guardiola chased Champions League football but he then had to watch as new signings came in and leapfrogged him into the team at the Club World Cup.
City have shown patience with plenty of new signings, allowing them time to adapt and get used to the league and their position before seeing the best of them. The problem for the Spaniard is that it isn't clear what his best role is so it is hard to know what he should be given time on.
If Tijjani Reijnders is the logical successor to Ilkay Gundogan, Gonzalez is probably more akin to the Bernardo Silva that arrived at the club in 2017. But Silva is staying for this season as captain so isn't likely to be dislodged soon and there is also Mateo Kovacic to think about.
Then there's Rodri, whose role Gonzalez isn't ideally suited to but may end up having to play there if Rodri's minutes are managed or if he has any fitness issues coming back from his serious problem.
It will feel like a major defeat for a recruitment team coming under increasing scrutiny if they were to take an offer for Gonzalez this summer - as it would for the player if he chose to seek one out - but the same would be true if he is kept but there is no development.
Tyrone Marshall
It's been a strange year for Gonzalez. He made such a strong impression in the early weeks of his City career that he was being dubbed a 'mini Rodri' by his manager, but as time went on he very clearly fell out of favour. The signing of Tijjani Reijnders seemed to signal that his future lay on the bench at best.
Rodri and Reijnders are likely to be the first-choice midfield partnership and Gonzalez hasn't done enough to barge his way to the front of the queue. His problem is that some of the old stagers in midfield retain the faith of Guardiola. Bernardo is the captain, Gundogan will get plenty of minutes if he stays and Kovacic ended the season in pretty good form.
That might leave Gonzalez reasonably well down the pecking order. This squad is clearly too big for Guardiola's tastes and even allowing for the fact that Phillips, McAtee and Grealish will depart, it feels like one of those central midfielders can also leave.
Gundogan might just be the favourite to move on, but if Gonzalez already senses the direction of travel, maybe there is a case to be made for cutting your losses. City should probably have done that earlier with Phillips. At least now Gonzalez's reputation and value hasn't been impacted as it would be by spending a year in the wilderness at the Etihad.
Kevin de Bruyne is one of - if not the - greatest players to play for Manchester City.
He leaves the club having won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, five League Cups and a memorable Champions League victory!
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To mark his amazing time at the Etihad Stadium, this special edition has been produced - KDB The King - to celebrate Kev's career with the Blues. We look back at his 10 best games in Blue, celebrate his title wins and hear from the City boss and a host of team-mates and football elite who give their views on what makes him so special.