Tuesday 5 July 2016 17:48, UK
After Manchester City announced the signing of Nolito from Celta Vigo for a fee of £13.8m, we look at how the late developer could fit into Pep Guardiola's side.
Five years ago, at the age of 24, Nolito was still attempting to make his mark on Barcelona's B side in Spain's Segunda Division.
Even 18 months later following a move to Benfica, halfway through the 2012/13 season as a 26-year-old, Nolito was struggling, heading back to Spain with Granada and another mixed six-month stint.
How, then, did the Spaniard find himself called up to represent the national team for the first time at the age of 28?
"I think that any job in any walk of life, you have to work hard, and I think that I'm a regular, down-to-earth guy, just like the next person, in spite of being a footballer," Nolito said upon joining Manchester City.
The key, Nolito says, is a level head and a down-to-earth attitude which has marked his career since moving to Luis Enrique's Barcelona B side in 2008 with the view of giving them lower-league experience.
Enrique, whose Barcelona side had been heavily linked with a move for Celta's star over the past 12 months, was the man who gave Nolito that balanced outlook, not afraid to tell him when he was doing wrong as well as right.
"Luis is a person who has always been direct and clear with me, he has always told me the good and bad things," Nolito said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo in 2014, after his first season at Celta Vigo yielded 14 goals and plenty of plaudits.
"When I had not deserved to play, he came and told me. It marked my career because it was a stage of my life where I was either going up or going down. He was key."
Mental strength seems his strong point. His humble rise is a breath of fresh air having resisted to take the direction of many footballer's in their mid-20s after a few years of stagnation.
He eventually went up and up, and after that particular interview had two more successful years at Celta, scoring a further 25 goals, many of which came in key games at key times.
The little man for the big occasion, say the Spanish, something Manchester City are desperate for having failed to beat any of their top five rivals home or away last term.
In January, it was so nearly a reunion with Enrique, but according to Barcelona club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the club made no signings because of the "ratio of debt" at the Nou Camp.
It has ended up being Pep Guardiola, the man he made five appearances for in Barcelona's senior side in 2010/11, and the man, according to Sky Sports' Guillem Balague, who will get the best out of him.
"Pep Guardiola needs specialists. As you know the style that he decides to produce needs a particular type of player, and Nolito fits into that role perfectly well," said Balague.
"Playing on the left-had side of the attack for instance; he knows the system because he has of course been at Barcelona, so he knows when he has to dribble, when he has to go, when he has cross, when he has to pressure. He knows all that, so it will not be new to him.
"So those of you who may expect, because it is Man City, the biggest names in the world, you have to realise that for Pep Guardiola's system, he needs a particular type of player. And as I say, Nolito fits that perfectly."
Nolito thinks the same, and he could be one of the many vital cogs in Pep's City machine which brings them back onto their feet as a Premier League force once again.
"I think Pep is one of the best managers in the world," Nolito told City's official website on Friday. "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."
But City fans, don't expect to see the 29-year-old week in, week out at the Etihad. With Raheem Sterling for company on the left flank, Guardiola will want to utilise both, and both are polar opposites. A penny for Sterling's thoughts, in this week of all weeks.
That should work fine for Nolito, who at times struggled for consistency with Celta and the burden of being one of few match-winning outlets for them.
"In a side like Pep's, he will rotate and I think you will see the good Nolito that you have seen in Spain," added Balague.
"I think Sterling will have to learn how the system works for Pep and I am pretty sure that Pep would love Sterling to learn it."
As with many La Liga imports, there are concerns over how the physicality of the Premier League could impact the 5ft 9in Andalusian's bedding-in period.
But size has rarely mattered in a Guardiola midfield, and Nolito is a specialist, a snip in today's market at barely £14m.
Guardiola's trophy-laden history tells us there will be plenty more signings of Nolito's ilk, not necessarily the marquee recruitment policy City fans are used to.
But after two years of underachievement, they are more than willing to let Guardiola do his thing.
