REUTERS/Lee Smith
Newcastle United needed to dip into the transfer market to bolster their midfield options after they cashed in on two of their star midfielders in the summer.
Sandro Tonali was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £100m and Bruno Guimaraes left to join Arsenal for £75m, which meant that the Magpies had the funds to reinvest in their squad.
Tonali-Newcastle
The biggest signing of the summer ended up being the £52m spent on Spanish defensive midfielder Nico Gonzalez, who joined from Manchester City to add steel to Matthias Jaissle's midfield.
It is now down to the 24-year-old talent to live up to the price tag by delivering consistent performances in the Premier League, as some of his fellow summer signings have already impressed more than him.
The problem facing Nico Gonzalez at Newcastle this season
Prior to signing for Newcastle, Gonzalez spent his senior career playing for teams that wanted to dominate the ball and wanted to control possession, including Barcelona, Porto, and Manchester City.
He is the ideal number six for teams who want to play like that because of his height to deal with long balls on the counter-attack, and his exquisite passing range on the ball.
However, he is facing a completely different way of playing at Newcastle. They have only had 46.6% of the ball across their first three Premier League games and their midfielders have to deal with more transitional defending and constantly shifting across to help the defence.
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Nico Gonzalez Vs Spurs Vs Bournemouth
Minutes 71 77
Pass accuracy 94% 84%
Long passes completed 4/6 2/6
Tackles won 0 0
Ground duels won 0/7 4/13
Aerial duels won 0/1 1/1
Fouls committed 2 6
Dribbled past 2x 3x
Gonzalez has yet to look up to that task in the league for the Magpies after losing 16 of his 20 ground duels in his first two appearances, being dribbled past five times without making a single tackle.
Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
His lack of mobility and pace has been exposed defensively in Newcastle's system, and he has to find a way to deal with that if he wants to prove himself to be worth the £52m that was paid for his services.
Newcastle star is an even better signing than Nico Gonzalez
Whilst Gonzalez does not appear on track to be the club's next Alexander Isak, whom they sold for £125m to Liverpool, one of the other summer signings has been sublime.
nico-gonzalez-newcastle
Newcastle paid around £26m to sign goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek from Braga to be their new number one after Aaron Ramsdale returned to Southampton at the end of his loan spell.
Nick Pope had been the club's first-choice between the sticks throughout Eddie Howe's tenure on Tyneside, but Jaissle has his own man with the gloves this season.
The intensity and physicality of the Premier League makes it a difficult league for goalkeepers to adapt to, yet the Czechia international has hit the ground running in England.
REUTERS/Chris Radburn
He has conceded four goals in the opening three games of the Premier League campaign for the Magpies, but there was little that he could have done to prevent any of them.
In fact, Hornicek has prevented 1.87 more goals than expected based on the xG value of the shots against his goal, which means that he has bailed out his defenders with his exceptional shot-stopping skills.
Not since Isak have Newcastle brought in a star from abroad who has hit the ground running and delivered consistently in the Premier League, and the former Braga star may be the latest player to do so.
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26/27 Premier League Lukas Hornicek
Appearances 3
Saves per game 4.3
Save success rate 76%
Goals prevented +1.87
Pass accuracy 60%
Error led to shot 0
Error led to goal 0
He has, arguably, been the team's best and most consistent player across the first three matches with his outstanding performances between the sticks.
Whilst he is not an exciting centre-forward, like Isak, who is going to score 20 goals a season, Hornicek could be just as valuable with the goals that he prevents with his saves.
Against Spurs, for example, Hornicek made a string of impressive stops to ensure that he kept a clean sheet and the Magpies sealed all three points, showcasing just how valuable he can be for Jaissle's side.
The fact that he kept 20 clean sheets in 50 matches and prevented 3.81 goals in 33 league outings for Braga in the 2025/26 campaign suggests that he does have the quality to deliver consistent quality as a shot-stopper at the top level.
Lukas-Hornicek-braga
His early performances for Newcastle, therefore, could be a sign of things to come, which is why he is already looking like the club's best and most impactful signing since Isak.
The Magpies paid £63m to sign Isak from Real Sociedad before his £125m move to Liverpool three years later, and Hornicek looks like he may be a candidate for a big-money sale in the future.