Barcelona 'left to rue embarrassing Nico Gonzalez contract mistake'

Barcelona have reportedly made a mistake in Nico Gonzalez's contract with Porto, which allowed the player to join Manchester City from the Portuguese club on Monday.

When Gonzalez first made the move from the Catalan giants, it was stipulated in his contract with Porto that they would keep 40 per cent of the Spaniard's future transfer fee.

Furthermore, the Blaugrana had also secured a buy-back option in Gonzalez's deal in July 2023 for a fixed fee of £25million (€30million).

According to ESPN, the midfielder's move to Manchester City has highlighted the club's error as the Catalans could have triggered the buy-back opportunity to sell the player to Man City for £50.2m.

Instead, Barca did not use the opportunity to re-sign the Spaniard, while Porto paid £2.5m (€3m) to apply a clause that would reduce Barcelona's capital gains to 20 per cent.

'The club exercised in advance an option to purchase 20 per cent of the capital gains from a transfer for a value of €3m,' explained Porto in a club's statement on their website.

Porto's 20 per cent purchase and Nico's move to the Citizens have also cancelled Barca's buy-back option, which was underlined in the player's contract.

It is understood that the Catalans made £11m (€13.32m) from the player's transfer to Manchester, instead of £25m they could have had if they would re-purchase the player.

Gonzalez became City's fourth winter transfer window signing after Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush.

He signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Cityzens and will wear number 14.

The 23-year-old Spain international started his career at Barcelona in 2021 and played in 37 games, scoring two goals and delivering two assists during his first campaign.

However, in search of more playing time, he moved to Porto, where he won Taça de Portugal last year.

Speaking to the club's website, Gonzalez said: 'This is the perfect opportunity for me at this stage of my career.

'I am 23 and I want to test myself in England. There’s no better club than Manchester City for me to do that.

'There isn’t a footballer in the world who would not want to be part of this set-up.'