What Nico Gonzalez is doing at Man City that makes him a Pep Guardiola favourite

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Pep Guardiola has been impressed by Nico Gonzalez at Manchester City.

Nico Gonzalez is learning from his teammates as well as his management as Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola tips the midfielder to scale new heights.

Gonzalez is in line to start against Bournemouth on Sunday with Guardiola confirming the 23-year-old is the best option in the middle of the park when Rodri is not fit. And while Rodri is set to return to the squad this weekend, he is unlikely to be thrown straight into the XI given the stop-start nature of his season.

Gonzalez has put himself to the fore of Guardiola's thinking with his attitude and ability, and his performances this season have shown why City spent £50m to bring him in from Porto in January.

The Spaniard fell out of favour towards the end of last term, but Guardiola has always enjoyed working with a player who is willing to take on advice from Etihad staff and players.

"He will be better, when you are coachable. Not just for me, but with his mates. His mates talk a lot to him, Pep (Lijnders) talks a lot to him.

"When you are coachable you will be a better player. Until the last day as a football player you can improve and if you are open minded and there are players who are, and Nico is the perfect example.

"There are other ones sometimes 'what are you going to tell me'. But this is personalities, it is fine. With those players I speak less and we talk less.

"With Nico, he is always open and wants to learn so that is why it is nice to be with these types of players. We are here for tomorrow to be better than today, if it is not possible okay it is not possible but to be better you have to be open."

Guardiola spoke to Gonzalez at length on the pitch after the full time whistle at Huddersfield in the Carabao Cup, a trait of the manager's that always attracts attention.

But Gonzalez himself welcomes the chance to learn and improve from the City chief, saying earlier this month: "He is really intense and he tries to show you what you have to do better.

"At the end, when you are able to do it, you understand why he is so intense. But then, after he has explained everything, you keep thinking about it, which is good.

"You keep thinking about what you should improve. Those moments, even now, I keep thinking about them when I go to the pitch."