One error has Nico Gonzalez condemned at Porto
On 29 July, FC Barcelona announced the transfer of Nico Gonzalez to Porto for 8.5 million euros, taking a buy-back option for 30 million euros and also reserving a percentage of a future sale of the Galician player.
Thus ended the dream of success at Barça of the youth player, who had made his first-team debut for Ronald Koeman on 15 August 2021 in a match against Real Sociedad. That season he played 37 games for the first team, although his participation diminished after Xavi's arrival on the bench.
Therefore, during the summer of 2022 he agreed to go on loan to Valencia and, in this last market, he decided to put an end to his time at Barça and look for a fresh start at Porto, a Champions League team, knowing that his arrival had been requested by Sergio Conceiçao, coach of the Portuguese team, who considers Nico an ideal player for his conception of the game, almost always with a double pivot.
Nico did not play in the Portuguese Super Cup, which Porto lost to Benfica a few days after his arrival at the club, but he made his debut in the first league game against Moreirense and started the next three games, against Farense, Rio Ave and Arouca, always in the double pivot alongside Eustaquio.
Fatal mistake
The match against Arouca proved fatal for Nico. A marking error on his part led to the equaliser six minutes from time. Conceiçao replaced him immediately and since then he has only played 17 minutes in the Champions League against Shakhtar and with the game already decided. He was not even called up against Estrela de Amadora and did not play against Gil Vicente or Benfica last Friday.
It seems clear that the Porto coach is taking it out on Nico after that mistake and has decided to go for another young player, the Argentinian Alan Varela, to play alongside Eustaquio. It remains to be seen whether he will put his faith in Nico again against Barça after last Friday's loss to Benfica.
