Manchester City’s Nolito could leave the club this summer, according to reports.
Manchester City’s Nolito celebrates
According to the Manchester Evening News, Manchester City attacker Nolito is fighting for his future under Pep Guardiola – and West Ham United are a club who should be monitoring his situation.
When Guardiola arrived as City manager, he went back to his native Spain in order to raid Celta Vigo by landing forward Nolito, who played at Barcelona during Guardiola’s time in charge there.
The 30-year-old hit 39 goals in 103 games for Celta Vigo to become one of the top players in La Liga as well as a regular with the Spanish national team, before heading to the Etihad Stadium.
Whilst the winger started the season well, he has drifted out of the City side, and hasn’t started a league game for City in 2017, playing just 135 minutes of football since the turn of the year.
With Leroy Sane establishing himself as City’s first-choice left winger, Nolito is on the periphery of the City side, and given that changes are now expected this summer, Nolito could be on the chopping block.
The Manchester Evening News report that Nolito faces a fight to convince Guardiola that his future lies at the Etihad Stadium, but if he does leave the club, West Ham should be weighing up a move to land him.
Despite signing Robert Snodgrass in January, the Hammers may feel that they need extra quality to replace Dimitri Payet following his January move to Marseille, and Nolito fits the bill.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Capable of scoring and creating, Nolito is a clever player with similar traits to Payet, and whilst he may not be quite as flamboyant, he’s capable of moments of magic that the West Ham crowd would love.
Nolito’s potential availability may well be interesting to West Ham boss Bilic, as not only did The Mirror report last summer that the Hammers were keen on landing Nolito from Celta Vigo, but Bilic then raved about him during Euro 2016.
As we quoted him last summer, Bilic told ITV Sport’s coverage of Spain’s 3-0 win over Turkey that he felt Nolito could create space where there wasn’t any, having notched a goal and an assist in that win – and his comments may open the door to a summer move.
Nolito may have just a couple of months to save his City career, but if Guardiola decides to sell the Spaniard, West Ham should be looking to pursue him in a possible summer move.
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