Man City Sign Spain Star Nolito

Photo Credit: Complete Sports Nigeria

                                    

Spain forward Nolito has joined Manchester City from Celta Vigo on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Nolito, 29,  signed on Friday to become City's second signing after Ilkay Gundogan had earlier joined.

A statement on City's official website reads:

"Nolito has become City’s second signing of the summer after agreeing a four-year deal."

The Spain forward joins the Blues from Celta Vigo where he spent three seasons, scoring 39 goals in 103 appearances.

The 29 year-old played for Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, though spent much of his time with the Catalans’ B side from 2008 to 2011.

Able to play as a forward or winger, Nolito – real name Manuel Agudo Duran – began his career with Écija Balompié, playing 76 times between 2006 and 2008.

From there he joined Barcelona B who had just been promoted to the second tier of La Liga under Pep Guardiola who left to coach the first team.

Nolito stayed with Barcelona B for three years, scoring 29 goals in 106 appearances before being promoted to the senior team under Guardiola, making five appearances in the 2010/11 campaign.

With first team opportunities restricted and despite being offered a five-year deal, Nolito opted to join Benfica, enjoying two campaigns with the Portuguese giants for whom he scored 16 goals in 63 starts.

Nolito was loaned to Granada for six months during the 2012/13 campaign before joining Celta Vigo on a permanent deal.

Consistently one of Celta Vigo’s best players, he won his first international call-up at any level aged 28, playing in Spain’s 1-0 defeat to Germany.

After making the preliminary squad for Euro 2016, he scored four goals in two games against Bosnia and South Korea and was named in the final 23-man squad as a result.

Nolito started all three of Spain’s Euro 2016 group matches and also the Round of 16 defeat against Italy."

Commenting on joining City, Nolito said: "I’ll try to bring as much as I possibly can," he said. "I’ll do everything that the manager asks of me, try my absolute best and do everything I can to try to repeat the form I’ve shown throughout my career at various clubs.

It’s just about trying to play my normal game and let’s hope that I can help Manchester City to win games.

I think that Pep Guardiola is one of the best managers in the world. He knows a lot about the game and he’s going to help me progress as a player and I’m sure he’ll get the best out of me."

Nolito will wear the No. 9 shirt this season.

Source: Complete Sports Nigeria