In 2025, a Manchester City gripped by an injury crisis swooped to buy him from Porto on deadline day of the January window.
Comparatively, moving to Newcastle with almost a week to spare sounds quite laid back. Not that it's felt that way to the 24-year-old, who produced a man-of-the-match display on his Magpies debut at Tottenham on Saturday
"It's been an intense four days," he said. "I've trained two days and played [against Tottenham]. It's been intense; now I need to settle a little bit. Look for a house and be comfortable in the city, my new home."
MORE: Newcastle's win at Tottenham as it happened
Settling can wait because there's a little more shuttling around to do yet. A post on X.com claiming that Gonzalez was spotted back in Manchester on Sunday walking his dog in the rain went viral. A day earlier, Newcastle's travelling support delighted in their new hero taking the Tottenham midfield for a walk, including Sandro Tonali, who swapped St James' Park for north London in a £100m deal earlier this summer.
Tonali's transfer to Tottenham, along with Bruno Guimaraes' switch to Arsenal , meant Newcastle had to move for Gonzalez, who found himself with a different status during this transfer window when compared to his Tyneside predecessors.
Tonali and Guimaraes were priority targets for Tottenham and Arsenal, with plenty of groundwork laid as the deals edged towards a conclusion. Gonzalez came off the City bench to face Guimaraes briefly in the FA Community Shield a fortnight ago.
An unbelievable debut from Nico 👏🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/Ms804KYWG8
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) August 30, 2026 Having been told he was part of City's plans under Enzo Maresca, the former Barcelona youngster was behind Mateo Kovacic in the pecking order. The following weekend, centre-back Marc Guehi started in central midfield alongside club record signing Elliot Anderson in the win over Bournemouth . Ayyoub Bouaddi is through the door for £85m and, if all goes to plan for City and Maresca, Chelsea 's Enzo Fernandez will usurp Anderson as their record buy before the deadline.
Affable and easy-going, without a trace of any ill-feeling over a summer thrown into flux, Gonzalez acknowledged it was hard not to see the writing on the wall at the Etihad Stadium, even after his compatriot Rodri completed his desired switch to Barcelona.
"I talked with them when we started pre-season, around July 20, and they told me that they counted on me, so that's why I wanted to stay," he explained. "I thought I would have a good chance of playing there. Obviously, the situation changed; they brought in some players and maybe even more now, according to rumours.
"The situation changed and they let me know. They were sincere and that's something that I really appreciate. I love that they told me what they thought and the best chance for me was to look for something. I'm really happy that everything worked well."
This is where the intensity comes in, though. While players like Tonali effectively sit tight and wait for two clubs to hammer out a deal, someone of Gonzalez's calibre coming onto the market can cause a bit of a frenzy.
An unbelievable debut from Nico 👏🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/Ms804KYWG8
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) August 30, 2026 "I had other options," he said. "Last week, I don't think… I'm not going to say exactly who I talked to. Other coaches, other Champions League teams also. I think this was the best option."
But it was Newcastle, their enterprising young head coach Matthias Jaissle, and the opportunity to be a key part of something new, that held sway.
"When I talked last week with the coach for the first time before coming here, he made me feel really important and that's something that any player loves to feel," Gonzalez added. "He also made me know that the project is really exciting, with a lot of young, talented players.
"They made me feel like they trusted me so much and that's really important for a player. I'm 24, so I'm not old yet and feel like I need to play and play and play every weekend. That's something that at City is really hard. I felt like here I could have that chance and that's the key."
Throw in the key to a new house, and Newcastle's new No. 6 really will be all set.
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