Newcastle nearing deal for Manchester City star to replace Bruno Guimaraes

Nico Gonzalez is getting closer to joining Newcastle as the north-east club are growing more likely to sign a replacement for Bruno Guimaraes.

While Newcastle are yet to agree a fee with Manchester City for the Spaniard, there is a growing expectation they will.

Gonzalez is set to join City’s midfield exodus this summer after Bernardo Silva, Tijjani Reijnders and Rodri have already left the Etihad Stadium.

The former Barcelona player joined City from Porto in January 2025 for £49m and has gone on to make 59 appearances, scoring four goals.

But he was left an unused substitute for Sunday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth, when centre-back Marc Guehi instead played in midfield.

While Gonzalez is likely to leave, City are continuing their midfield revamp after agreeing a deal with Lille for Ayyoub Bouaddi that could entail paying £85m for the Morocco midfielder.

Selling Gonzalez as well as Savinho, who is set to join Tottenham for £85m, would mean City have made almost £300m in the transfer market this summer, while they have also been in talks with Spurs about Omar Marmoush.

Newcastle turned to Gonzalez in their search for a more experienced midfielder after considering Joao Palhinha and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

They have bought two younger midfielders, in 18-year-old Sean Steur and 20-year-old Aladji Bamba, who both debuted against Liverpool on Sunday.

But after Guimaraes’ £75m move to Arsenal and Sandro Tonali’s £100m transfer to Tottenham, they have also looked for further midfield reinforcements.

New manager Matthias Jaissle also wants another forward but does not believe he needs to buy a centre-back, even though new captain Dan Burn is injured.