Newcastle begin talks to sign £52m Man City star in shock move

Newcastle United are exploring a move to sign Manchester City midfielder Nico Gonzalez, talkSPORT understands.

The Magpies are in need of a midfielder following the summer departures of Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes.

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The club has now entered into discussions with City for the Spaniard ahead of a potential move to St James’ Park.

The 24-year-old, who joined the club in a £52million deal in February 2025, made 41 appearances for City last term but was restricted to just two starts in the second half of the season.

However, City are understood to be keen to offload Gonzalez in order to fund moves for Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Gonzalez, who joined City from FC Porto for £52million in January 2025, admitted earlier this month that he had no issues with his game time at the Etihad Stadium.

He also reiterated his desire to stay at the club under new boss Enzo Maresca.

The Italian head coach introduced Gonzalez as a second-half substitute in Sunday’s 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal.

Jaissle is in desperate need of experience in midfield

Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle is keen to improve his midfield options following a tumultuous summer of exits.

The Magpies have brought in six new faces this summer including two midfielders in Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba.

Jaissle is hoping to address a lack of experience in his midfield before the end of the window.

An attempt to lure Marseille’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to St James Park’ last week fell through at the player’s request.

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AFP

And if pre-season is anything to go by, the Magpies could do with extra quality in the middle of the pitch.

Newcastle kick off the Premier League season at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

Jaissle’s side face a tricky run of fixtures to start the season with Tottenham, Bournemouth and Leeds to following in the opening weeks.

Meanwhile, City face Bournemouth at the Etihad on Sunday in Maresca’s first league game in charge.

The ex-Chelsea boss will hope to put Sunday’s disappointment behind him as he leads the club into the post-Pep Guardiola era.

But he will haver to do it without the services of talismanic midfielder Rodri who completed a £65.4m switch on Barcelona on Tuesday.

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