Pep Guardiola assures Nico Gonzalez of Manchester City future after lack of minutes | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained why Nico Gonzalez has seen his game time limited in recent months, insisting the Spain international is simply up against two of the best midfielders in world football.

The 23-year-old has found opportunities hard to come by at the Etihad Stadium of late, with Rodri and Bernardo Silva ahead of him in the pecking order following the former’s return to full fitness.

Gonzalez joined Manchester City from Porto in January 2025 as an emergency reinforcement and showed considerable promise in the early stages of his debut campaign, though his opportunities have become increasingly sparse as the current season reaches its business end.

Guardiola: Nico is competing with Rodri and Bernardo

Speaking in a press conference in the days leading to Manchester City’s 4-0 drubbing of Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final, Guardiola was asked to explain Gonzalez’s drop in game time.

“It’s Rodri and Bernardo, yeah,” Guardiola said. “You know, Cole Palmer, how incredible a player he is. What a player. But it was Riyad Mahrez here, it was Bernardo, it was Kevin De Bruyne in his prime, it was Gundo (Ilkay Gündoğan) in the treble season, first season. Sometimes it is.

“I remember just Nico Gonzalez played, I think it was the FA Cup, alongside with Nico O’Reilly, in Newcastle, to qualify (for the quarter-final). And they were both – Nico maybe one of the best performances of the season.

“But Rodri is Rodri. And sometimes you need minutes to become who he is, and Rodri how he played in the (Carabao Cup) final against Arsenal. And Bernardo both. So it’s just that. The people, it’s difficult to understand.”

Guardiola reserved particular praise for the manner in which Gonzalez has handled the situation. He added: “Like Abdukodir Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez, there are players that accept this position like I’ve never seen how he accepts the situation and trains harder and always is ready for five minutes, or one minute. And it is a joy to have it in the squad.”

Guardiola: Nico has a lot to improve – and the margin to do it

On whether Gonzalez can do anything to force his way into the team given the competition ahead of him, Guardiola pointed to the volume of opportunities still available – and the considerable ceiling the midfielder has yet to reach.

“No, no, there are a thousand million games, now a little bit less, a thousand million games,” the 55-year-old said. “So the contribution from Nico, he has seen for himself – it is the best season he has done so far. Nico is just to grow, he has a lot of things to improve, mentally, and how he’s able to get the balls and break lines and look forward and many things.

“And I think from behind, he has to look at Rodri, how he does. Sometimes we have so close – he has been the best midfield player in the world, so how can I improve too, because he’s so young. Like Phil Foden, they are so young. And they have an incredible margin to improve.”

The City manager’s comments come amid a wider conversation around minutes and opportunity for City’s squad players as the club enter the final months of a season in which they are still chasing a domestic treble under director of football Hugo Viana.