In addition to being injured with a fracture in the fourth toe of his left foot that has prevented him from finishing the League in conditions, Nico González has finished the season between sporting doubts with Xavi, that since the winter market closed and he had all the signings, he has barely given him 303 minutes: 178′ in the last eleven league games if the last five that he missed due to injury and one more due to suspension are not counted, and 125′ in the Europa League, where he didn’t count for anything in the tie against Eintrcht Frankfurt.
Both the player and his agent, Jorge Mendes, have ended the season somewhat disappointed and want to know what real role awaits the Galician interior in the 2022-2 season3. The coach guarantees that he has Nico, but that supposed confidence has not been transmitted with opportunities on the pitch.
With a contract until 2024, Mateu Alemany has even sat down with Jorge Mendes to study a contract extension that, logically, is not now a priority in the sea of folders in which Barça swims, but the midfielder is not entirely convinced either. Granted the alternative by Koeman, who decided to bet on him as he had done before with Pedri or Ilaix and later with Gavi, he has felt less confidence from the Terrassa coach despite the fact that in Xavi’s beginnings as coach he gave him three very important points against Elche and another point against Osasuna in Pamplona.
Nico and his entourage are restless. Although Gestifute, Jorge Mendes’ agency, now handles his affairs, his father, former sportsman Fran, is on top of his son’s sporting present. Fran was already belligerent before the signing of Nico’s previous contract. He asked for him to have a record from the first team and warned Barça that he could ‘take him away’ because he had offers. There, the opinion of Nico himself, recognized as a culé since he was a child, was key (he always remembers Iniesta’s goal at Stamford Bridge as one of his initiatory moments as a Barcelona player). Time proved the midfielder right because Koeman believed in him, but in recent months he has noticed a certain distance from Xavi. Jorge Mendes has also perceived it and a new scenario has been opened that is awaiting a new conversation.