Friday 1 July 2016 11:45, UK
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola is set to get the very best out of Nolito, who will fit in perfectly at the Etihad, according to Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.
City announced the signing of Nolito on Friday, with the forward joining the Premier League club from Celta Vigo on a four-year deal.
Nolito, 29, worked under Guardiola at Barcelona during the 2010-11 season, with the then Barca manager handing the Spain international his first-team debut at the Nou Camp.
Nolito was largely used by Barcelona's 'B' team in that campaign before then moving on to Benfica, but Guardiola was still keen to lure the player to City by triggering his £13.8m release clause at Celta.
And Balague is confident that Nolito will have no problems adjusting to Guardiola's style of play having already played under him in Catalonia.
"I think you have to start with Pep Guardiola because he needs specialists," he told Sky Sports News HQ. "As you know, the style that he decides to produce needs a particular type of player and Nolito fits into that role perfectly well.
"Playing on the left-hand 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.
You will see the good Nolito, which probably was the Nolito from the first two Spain games and not so much of the last two
"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.
"I am sure he will need [a period of adjustment to the Premier League], like the type of clashes you get in the Premier League, the intensity of the Premier League. Because he was playing at Celta, which when it worked well was a team that was very intense both with and without the ball."
Nolito joined Celta from Benfica in 2013, winning the first of his 13 Spain caps the following year.
Twelve goals in La Liga last season helped secure Nolito a spot at Euro 2016, where he featured in all four of Spain's games and was on target in the 3-0 win over Turkey.
Nolito scored 39 goals in 103 appearances in total for Celta and while his form was often up and down at the Balaidos, Balague believes Guardiola will get the best out of the Spaniard at City.
"His problem, perhaps, was consistency and he was not able to produce a whole season of very good football," he said.
"But that was down to the fact that Celta only really had 11, 12 players and no replacement for him. So he had to play absolutely everything.
"In a side like Pep Guardiola's, he will rotate and I think you will see the good Nolito that you have seen in Spain, which probably was the Nolito from the first two games of Spain and not so much of the last two.
"I am pretty sure there are going to be seven or eight signings for City when Guardiola puts everything together. But on that side, you already have Nolito and Raheem Sterling and they are completely different in a way.
"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."
