Rodri's influence on Gonzalez

[Getty Images] A lot has clearly changed since Nico Gonzalez first set foot in the Premier League a year-and-a-half ago and made his Manchester City debut against Newcastle of all teams. Before City's 4-0 win, the new arrival had been warned about the intensity with which Newcastle's midfielders played and pressed at their snarling best. However, the unfazed Spaniard ended up completing a staggering 100 passes and helped snuff out any potential breakaways from the visitors at Etihad Stadium. It was a glimpse of the skillset - in and out of possession - which convinced City to sign defensive midfielder Gonzalez from Porto for £50m. City's then manager, Pep Guardiola, even labelled him "our mini-Rodri" in the absence of his influential, injured team-mate. Gonzalez ultimately found an extended run of starts hard to come by once his compatriot returned to full fitness, though. But former Manchester City assistant manager Kolo Toure believes he will have benefited from his experience at the Etihad. "When you are in competition against players like Rodri, you learn a lot because you come up against them in training and you have to show the manager you are better than them," he said. "You learn from things they do as well and, on the ball, he learned a lot from Rodri. Without the ball he's really good because he can press, get it back and read the game really well. "He has this capacity to steal the ball from opponents, which is top. He's better than Rodri at this in my opinion, but Rodri on the ball is the best in the world. "Both of them have different qualities and different strengths."