Nico Gonzalez: Manchester City are looking for the steal

Barcelona and the agents of Nico Gonzalez plan to negotiate a new contract before the end of the season

Barcelona is currently immersed in the renewals of several players. All of them started before the Christmas break and are still going strong. Other than the intricacies involving the renewal of Ousmane Dembele, the two most complicated ones are those of Araujo and Gavi. They have been negotiating for months but there is still no agreement with either of them. For Araujo there are very strong offers from Manchester United and Chelsea . And another renewal that at this moment has been stalled is that of Sergi Roberto. The club has had second thoughts about Roberto’s renewal and if by any chance an offer is made, it is expected to be very low. In the event of a non renewal, the midfielder/fullback could end up leaving for free at the end of the season.

Nico has a contract until 2024

Another renewal that is hot is that of Nico González . The footballer signed a renewal last May that binds him to the club until 2024. He was then at Barca B, but he had not yet exploded as a player to make it to the first team. He then signed for three years with a very low payout, but with a termination clause of 500 million, too steep a price for any club that intends to take him.

Nico ‘s had a spectacular season with the first team when he was called by outgoing coach, Ronald Koeman this year. He has carved a niche for himself in the team and has played many games as a starter. So much so that in January the club decided to give him a first team record. That, however, did not translate into an improvement in his contract as the club was going through a difficult transfer window of beefing up the squad and fixing the wage bill. They are still fixing the wage bill so renewal offers are low, which could be a plausible reason as to why many renewals are beginning to stagnate. Talks for Nico’s upgrade will come after the ones that are now pending and before the end of the season. So far there has been no contact on this subject.

In comes Europe

It will not be an easy negotiation. The progression of this footballer has not gone unnoticed by the big European clubs and a queue is beginning to form to get the young midfielder’s signature. According to Marca, five European clubs in the major leagues have shown their willingness to take over his services: three from the Premier, one German and one Italian. One of them is Manchester City , which has always closely followed the footballer’s developments since Fran, the player’s father, worked for the English club for a while.

Nico’s priority is to continue at Barcelona where he feels very comfortable. However, the azulgrana club will have to reach its economic goals(about a hundred million wage cut is targeted) to make a big signing this summer and when it competes with other great European clubs, the situation is far from easy.

As of now Nico is not an outright starter at Barcelona. But things could change as a lot of experimentation is going on with the line up. There are also rumors circulating in the market that Barcelona will be making a midfield signing. For Nico to renew, there has to be confidence that he will get playing time.