Manchester City have secured the signing of Spanish midfielder Nico Gonzalez from Portuguese side FC Porto on a four-and-a-half-year deal, the Premier League club announced on Monday.
The 23-year-old, a product of Barcelona’s youth academy, joins City for a fee of €60 million ($62.06 million), according to a club source.
Gonzalez previously made 37 appearances for Barcelona before moving to Porto in 2023, where he featured 68 times, contributing nine goals and nine assists. He has also represented Spain at the under-21 level.
City’s Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, acknowledged the challenges in securing the deal, highlighting Gonzalez’s impact at Porto.
“It was a difficult transfer to complete because his performances have been outstanding, and he has been such an important part of what FC Porto are doing this season,” Begiristain said in a club statement.
“We are really happy we have managed to get this done before the window closed.”
Gonzalez is City’s fourth signing of the January transfer window, following the arrivals of centre-backs Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis, as well as Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush.
The Premier League champions, currently sitting fifth in the table, have been dealing with the absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in September.
City head into their next match against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, following a 5-1 defeat to Arsenal that left them 15 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.