Matheus Nunes was in the headlines on Wednesday morning following Manchester City’s 4-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava, but not for taking advantage of weaker opposition to stake a claim for a more regular starting role under Pep Guardiola.
No, he had reportedly been arrested in Madrid last month for stealing a mobile phone from somebody trying to take a picture of him in the bathroom of a club.
However, sources close to the player, who wish to stay anonymous, say no further action is expected to be taken.
It does, though, put Nunes into the spotlight, something which has not really happened since his move from Wolverhampton Wanderers to City for £38million ($50m) in August 2023.
He started seven league games for the club last season and never tied together a run of matches, only really appearing every now and then, generally in home matches against bottom-half opposition.
There is nothing particularly unusual about a slow debut season at the Etihad Stadium — enough players have trodden that path over the years, from Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez to Rodri and Nathan Ake — and generally there is an expectation that things get better in the second season.
In theory, Nunes should be in a position to challenge for a more regular role in midfield now, not least in light of Rodri’s absence: Pep Guardiola has said, and shown, that he might use two players in a holding midfield role to replicate the Spaniard’s impact.
“At Wolves, I played more as a winger and last year here I played more as a No 10, but when I played for Sporting (Lisbon), I always played in the double pivot, so I’m used to every position now,” he told reporters last week.
He also believes that he has been sufficiently programmed into the City style and is ready to make a bigger contribution in his second year, like so many before him.
“I think I’m more comfortable now, I have settled in better this season because I know all of the tactics and the way we play and defend,” he added. “It is more in my mind already and everything is very clear for me this year.
“Last year was more trying to learn everything and keep up with the other lads who have been here for years. Hopefully, this season will be even better.”
This was after he scored his first goal for the club against Watford in the Carabao Cup, the kind of game in which he will need to make an impact because, so far across City’s five league games this season, he has played a total of 20 minutes across three different substitute appearances.
Speaking after that match, Guardiola gave his verdict: “He has a special quality like few players we have, he’s unique, his pace on transitions is unbelievable.
“I am really pleased for him for scoring the goal, hopefully, he scores more. Still, he has something he has to read, to understand, because it’s not easy sometimes for new players to adapt, but I am really pleased for him because he is a lovely guy and lovely guys always deserve good things.”
As some City fans pointed out, that does sound very similar to what Guardiola says about Kalvin Phillips: he is good when the game is more open (which is not how City want to play), he still has some things to learn, and he is a lovely guy.
For all the examples of players who come good in their second season, Phillips is one that proves that it can never be taken for granted that a player definitely will adapt and that is the challenge for Nunes.
The Portugal international has played far more than Phillips did and his strengths have been obvious — he really does glide past opponents and can help City out of tight spots — but it does not appear that, all things considered, the full package fits with what Guardiola wants from a midfielder.
On Tuesday in Slovakia, Nunes had another opportunity in a forgiving match in terms of opposition quality, although not in terms of style because City had a lot of the ball, but not many transitions. He struggled to make the kind of impact that will lead to more regular minutes in tougher matches, though.
Leonel Pontes, who coached Nunes at Sporting and is now technical director at Shanghai Shenhua, knows the Brazilian-born midfielder well and is happy to talk in-depth about his strengths and areas for adaptation.
“His presence on the field is obvious due to the elegance with which he runs,” Pontes tells The Athletic. “Carrying the ball towards the opponent’s goal after taking out opponents with a dribble, shots from outside the box, especially when it comes from the left side towards the inside (which is exactly how he scored against Watford), and moving into space in the area from deep.
“He is also very quick, despite rarely using this characteristic, perhaps due to City’s positional play.”
As has been obvious to anybody who has seen Nunes over the past year, or listened to Guardiola’s comments, there still exists this clash of styles.
“I think this more positional type of game doesn’t help him, depending on its characteristics,” Pontes adds. “It needs to be more of a game with longer transitions, where there is space to run, to carry the ball and take out the opponent’s lines with dribbling.”
With Rodri out for the season and City likely to use two holding midfielders on several occasions, Pontes believes that would suit Nunes well.
“Playing with two central midfielders and a No 10 in front, he can play the role of central midfielder, tasked with progressing the ball,” he says. “In a 3-4-3, he can be one of the central midfielders, as long as the other is more defensive-minded.
“In a 4-3-3, he can play as an interior midfielder/No 8, preferably on the left side if we want more finishing situations.”
There have also been some suggestions since Nunes arrived at City that he could play in even more diverse roles, including full-back, although Pontes believes he is suited to more attacking briefs.
“He can play on the left wing as long as his full-back is very offensive and he can play in inside spaces, but here he can lose his defensive responsibilities behind him,” he says.
“He can play on the inside right, to look for deep movements, to cross, assist or finish.”
That last one is easy to imagine given City’s fondness for an underlap in the right half-space, the kind of area where Kevin De Bruyne has often got into over the years and Rico Lewis was popping up in on Tuesday night.
Nunes was actually used in that left-sided No 8 role in that match but could not make the same kind of impact as he did a week earlier.
For now, it seems he will have to wait for his opportunities, not least because Lewis, given his appreciation of how to operate small spaces, is ahead of him in the pecking order when it comes to the Rodri replacements, as well as Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic.
There is a long way to go this season and those who have kicked on in their second year have not always done so immediately, but it does not appear, in the short term, that there will be lots of opportunities to make that leap.
The obvious question is whether Nunes will be able to prove why City signed him in the first place. If not, the question will be why City have signed two midfielders, in Nunes and Phillips, who do not seem to be what they actually need and why they have not been able to adapt.
(Top photo: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
