Nico Gonzalez has already endeared himself to the Geordie faithful during his short time as a Newcastle United player.
The Spaniard signed in the summer from Manchester City as the replacement for the departing Bruno Guimaraes, with the club seeing the 24-year-old as the talisman of the new Newcastle 2.0. Since then, whilst we are yet to see the absolute best of him, Nico has put in some solid performances and shown glimpses of the full extent of what he is capable of.
That alone has made him popular on Tyneside, but his recent interview with Sky Sports and Keith Downie has turned that fondness to adoration on social media. Yet, while his comments are nice to hear, it’s difficult to not feel like we should be careful not to get too carried away.
Nico Gonzalez loves the Toon
Opening up about his move to Newcastle and the feeling the fans have given him since he joined the club, Nico said: “I think it was a huge opportunity for me. I mean, I was, obviously, at a top club in Manchester City but I think Newcastle has been amazing the last years and has even more potential.
”I think we are a top team and I’m enjoying it so much. So, at the end, I think the most important thing is not about oh, you have to be in the best club, I think the most important thing is enjoying football and trying to become the best player you can.”
Nico also spoke about the reception he received when he first stepped foot on the hallowed turf at St James’ Park for his presentation, saying: “Obviously those moments are in the middle of so many emotions so coming here and feeling that, it was the best decision I could have ever made.
”Life here is amazing, I’m enjoying it so much. We are still building, which is something that makes me feel even more excited because we are doing really good things and we still have a lot to improve.”
But let’s not get too carried away…
Now by no means am I suggesting any of those comments are disingenuous, or that there isn’t truth behind what he is saying. He is clearly an excellent character, humble, down to earth and of course a brilliant footballer.
But I do think we should all take a second to revisit past situations before letting ourselves get too immersed and swept away by his words.
I have seen accounts on X for example suggesting that what he is saying is refreshing after we lost four big players and even inferring that Nico has shown a mentality that puts him above some of those players with these comments.
But I think that sentiment is too quick to dismiss that there was a point in time when we thought this exact thing about the four who have left.
Anthony Gordon spoke highly of the club, fans and area during his time at Newcastle but ultimately left for Barcelona (which you can’t blame him for at all by the way).
Sandro Tonali was as complementary as you could imagine after he returned from his betting ban and was very well liked among fans during the period before ultimately moving to Spurs at the first opportunity.
Alexander Isak is a difficult one but the reason we all hate him so much now is because after winning us the Carabao Cup none of us expected him to be the sort of player to force a move away.
And I’m not even really sure I need to explain Bruno Guimaraes, a player who actually opposed Isak’s stance before doing all but the exact same thing as Isak the next summer barring the actual act of going on strike.
My point is, we have trusted players’ words and actions before but, ultimately, modern football simply has very little loyalty.
That’s not to say Nico won’t emerge as one of the few, but to save the fanbase from yet another situation where a player leaves in a cloud of bitterness, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to attach our hearts to a player when we have been puppeteered by so many in the past.
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