Manchester City’s Nick Gonzalez has discovered something many already suspected—Rodri might not be human. The 23-year-old Gonzalez, who arrived from Porto in January like a very expensive winter coat (price tag: £50 million), didn’t just come to warm the bench while Rodri recovered from a nasty ACL injury. He came to study a master at work. And Rodri, freshly back from limping across a Paris stage to collect a Ballon d’Or on crutches, is very much that master.
Gonzalez joins the Guardiola circus
For Gonzalez, the transition into the glittering chaos of a Pep Guardiola side has been as smooth as his midfield touches. Signed during one of Guardiola’s most injury-riddled seasons yet, he was meant to fill in for Rodri—which is a bit like being asked to fill in for Shakespeare at the Globe. Good luck, mate.
But Gonzalez has embraced the challenge with charm and admiration. “He’s even better than I expected,” Gonzalez told the BBC with the kind of sincerity that makes you wonder if Rodri also rescues kittens and cooks paella for the team.
The Gonzalez-Rodri bromance is real
It helps that both midfielders speak Spanish and have developed a bond stronger than Manchester’s rainfall. Gonzalez shared, “He helps me a lot… I’m seeing things I haven’t seen in a lot of midfielders.” That includes, presumably, passes that bend the laws of space-time and tackles that happen before the ball even arrives.
student of the midfield Jedi
Rodri’s return—swapping in for Erling Haaland in De Bruyne’s farewell—was a moment soaked in symbolism. And Gonzalez? He’s watching. Learning. Quietly turning into the kind of player who might one day earn comparisons to his mentor.
If he keeps absorbing Rodri’s tricks, Manchester City’s midfield future is in annoyingly good hands. Guardiola might just have another midfield magician on the rise—with fewer crutches and just as many clever passes.
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