Following a drawn out back and forth negotiation, Premier League sides Newcastle United and Manchester City have agreed verbally to a package worth £50m for Nico Gonzalez.
The deal is believed to be structured as a fee of £47m plus £3m in add-ons, with Gonzalez reportedly having agreed to the move as well. Once completed, it will end a frustrating string of bad luck for Newcastle who believed they were in the mix for multiple players in recent weeks, only to see them lose out at the last minute to another club. Players such as Victor Munoz and Johan Manzambi were heavily linked to the Magpies, but ultimately chose different paths at the 11th hour.
Gonzalez is a massive get for Matthias Jaissle’s side as the club was in desperate need of reinforcements amongst their midfielder group following the departures of Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali. Still just 24 years old, Gonzalez figures to see immediate usage with his new club after struggling to crack the starting 11 with Manchester City over the last year. Originally thought of as the heir apparent to Rodri, Gonzalez didn’t appear to be a good fit in Enzo Maresca’s new system, making him suddenly expendable despite having only recently joined the team.
The Spaniard was brought over from Porto roughly 18 months prior for a fee of €60 million, which means Manchester City will recoup most of their fees the club paid out to acquire him in the new deal.
It’s been a summer of change for Manchester City who have already generated €190 million in player sales to date. That figure doesn’t take into account the impending Savinho move to Tottenham, or Gonzalez’s new deal, meaning the club will be pushing €300 million in sales this transfer window.
The two sides are expected to exchange documents and begin a physical assessment on Tuesday before making the deal official. Up next for Newcastle is an EFL Cup 2nd round match against West Brom at 2:45pm ET on Wednesday, while Manchester City is off until Friday when they’ll take on Crystal Palace F.C.
Photo: Sefik Akkurt. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.