Update: Why Nico Gonzalez is not starting for Man City as Pep Guardiola makes prediction News

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about January signing Nico Gonzalez and how he can improve

Pep Guardiola would like Nico Gonzalez to ‘move less’ in his position but backs his January signing to improve markedly once Rodri returns to training. The Manchester City manager insisted that Gonzalez has started positively at the Etihad but has found himself out of the team recently because he has not got the experience that other players have.

Gonzalez was a £50m arrival from Porto in the final week of the January window and was a midfield signing that fans had been crying out for since the previous summer. A season-ending injury suffered by Rodri placed undue strain on the rest of the midfield and they were unable to cope during a miserable few months for the Blues when their Premier League and Champions League hopes all but ended.

Arriving with experience and added straight to the squad for the Champions League play-off, Gonzalez was seen as somebody who could make an instant impact. He said he had been tasked with filling the Rodri void and starting important matches against Real, Liverpool and Newcastle.

The latter of those appearances was a midfield masterclass and left to his manager making enthusiastic comparisons to Rodri, although he has not been used as often in recent weeks. Gonzalez was benched for important games against Bournemouth and United in the last few weeks.

Guardiola said that he was simply going with players who know his play better, although he does admit there are teething problems with the January signings. When they go away, Gonzalez has been backed to become even better.

“I decided for the players with experience who know all the patterns better. And look what happened against United!” he said. “But it’s not against him because Jeremy (Doku) has played awesome recently for many games and didn’t play against United. It’s not against any players particularly.

“The impact for the news ones has been really good. I’m impressed in training.

“It’s not easy when they come to an environment where the way we are playing and the results are not good. Nico has played good and I’m pretty sure when Rodri comes back just by mimicking him in training sessions he will learn a lot.

“He’s another guy who understands many things and he will get it because he listens, he is so attentive and focused on his work – football, football, football.

“That’s so important and the times he played – against Brighton he regained the ball and there was a transition and we could score so he has done many good things. With the ball, he has to move less. I don’t like holding midfielders who move a lot, they have to be smaller in the position but I’m pretty sure he will get it. he has physicality, he wants to learn, he learns quick and it’s going to happen.”

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