Man City make persist with deal for €60m midfielder as Barcelona wait for news

Manchester City are hoping to be the big story on transfer deadline day, with just hours remaining for them to complete a big move for Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez. After reinforcing their defence with Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, and strengthening the attack with Omar Marmoush, Nico is seen as a versatile option in midfield.

Gonzalez struggled for continuity under Xavi Hernandez after breaking into the Barcelona team, before moving on loan to Valencia. He would then be sold to Porto for €8.44m, but the Blaugrana have retained a 40% sell-on fee option. It is not clear whether that would be 40% of the profit from a sale, or of the entire fee.

City have reportedly had a €50m offer turned down for Nico, as they look to negotiate down his price tag. So far Porto have been steadfast on receiving his €60m release clause though, which would mean Barcelona receiving somewhere between €20.8m and €24m. TBR Football say that Gonzalez has made it clear to Porto that he would like the move to go through, but time is ticking.

Pep Guardiola had reportedly tried to convince Sergio Busquets to join City for the second half of the season after the loss of Rodri Hernandez, but in Nico would have a La Masia schooled midfielder, capable of a box-to-box function, or a deeper-lying role, receiving the ball from the defence.

This season the 23-year-old has made 29 appearances, scoring 7 times and giving 6 assists in Portugal, evidence that he has enjoyed a slightly more attacking role. It is the joint-most in terms of creation for Porto, and only Galeno and Samu Aghehowa have made more goal contributions than his 13.

Had Barcelona received money from a deal earlier, they might have decided to go for a forward, cited as their primary target for the January transfer window. Yet with Marcus Rashford now off the table, that seems unlikely.