"He is our mini Rodri! He has a huge presence, his pace, and his time at Barcelona academy, it is all about the ball and positioning. He has the desire to have success in the Premier League, he is here to prove himself."

The problem is that Mateo Kovacic’s ball-carrying has often led City into danger this season: the Croatian’s natural instinct is to drive forward and play a killer pass, but when that goes awry, he invariably leaves a big space behind him that nobody else is able to fill, and opponents duly made hay on the counter.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed his thoughts on how best to utilise new midfield signing Nico Gonzalez, particularly when Rodri returns. The 23-year-old arrived at the Etihad Stadium in a big-money move from FC Porto on deadline day in the final piece of business in a hectic month from Manchester City’s Txiki Begiristain,

Gonzalez arrived from Porto for a £50m fee ($62m) and took little time to find his feet in City's best performance of the season to date against the Magpies

MOTD2 pundit Micah Richards explains why new midfielder Nico Gonzalez could end up having a huge impact on what is left of Manchester City's season.

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola has hailed midfielder, Nico Gonzalez as a ‘mini-Rodri.’ Guardiola spoke as Man City thrashed Newcastle United 4-0 in the Premier League over the weekend, thanks to a hat-trick from Omar Marmoush.