Nicolás González Iglesias (born 3 January 2002), sometimes known as just Nico, is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Primeira Liga club

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Club career

Barcelona

Nico was born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Galicia, and started his career with local side Montañeros at the age of seven. In December 2012, he agreed to a move to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, effective as of the following July. On 19 May 2019, aged just 17, Nico made his senior debut for the reserves, coming on as a late substitute for Kike Saverio in a 2–1 Segunda División B away loss against Castellón. In the 2020–21 season, he was initially a member of the ''Juvenil A'' before starting to feature regularly for the B-team from November 2020 onwards. On 12 May 2021, Nico renewed his contract until 2024, with a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

500 million buyout clause. After featuring in the main squad during the pre-season, he made his first team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

– debut on 15 August, replacing

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

in the opening game of the

2021–22 La Liga The 2021–22 La Liga is the 91st season of La Liga, Spain's premier football competition. It began on 13 August 2021 and will conclude on 22 May 2022. The fixtures were announced on 30 June 2021. On 24 June 2021, the Spanish Council of Minister ...

season, a 4–2 win over Real Sociedad. Nico scored his first professional goal on 12 December 2021, netting the opener in a 2–2 away draw against

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

Loan to Valencia

On 13 August 2022, Nico renewed his contract until 2026, and later signed with

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

on a season-long loan.

Porto

On 29 July 2023, Nico signed a five-year contract with Primeira Liga club FC Porto, for a reported fee of €8.5 million, with Barcelona having a buy-back clause. He made his debut for the Portuguese side on 14 August, coming off the bench to replace Romário Baró in the 70th minute of a 2–1 win away at

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, in the Primeira Liga. One week later, Nico made his first start for Porto, in a 2–1 home win over Farense.

Personal life

He is the son of former Spanish footballer and

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable) Mexicable is a aerial lift line in Ecatepec de Mo ...

legend Fran González and the nephew of José Ramón.

Career statistics

Club

;

References

External links

Nico González
at the FC Porto website * {{DEFAULTSORT:González, Nico 2002 births Living people Footballers from A Coruña Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Segunda División B players La Liga players Primeira Liga players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Valencia CF players FC Porto players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal