He certainly did so at St James' Park on Wednesday night after completing his £52m move from Manchester City. Newcastle United's new signing was handed a rapturous welcome before he even kicked a ball for the club as supporters repeatedly chanted his name. The sight of Gonzalez walking out at the sold-out stadium before the 3-2 win against West Bromwich Albion in the Carabao Cup second round was a welcome one for head coach Matthias Jaissle, who desperately wanted him.
The German stressed he was "always a believer in the positive things", but tellingly also referred to the pursuit as a "long fight". Having spoken personally to Gonzalez on a number of occasions, Jaissle quickly made it clear how much he wanted the 24-year-old and how pivotal he would be in his side. "It's always important if you're making signings like Nico that there is a commitment there," Jaissle said.
"But he showed that from the beginning, from our first conversations." Newcastle face Millwall in third round - full draw A lot has clearly changed since Gonzalez first set foot in the Premier League a year and a half ago and made his Manchester City debut against Newcastle. Before City's 4-0 win, the new arrival had been warned about the intensity Newcastle's midfielders played and pressed with at their snarling best. But 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 Manchester 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.
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