"Matheus Nunes is one of the best players in the world".
That was Pep Guardiola’s statement in 2022, after Manchester City thrashed Sporting 5-0 at Alvalade. The Catalan coach already had his eye on the Portuguese international, and it wasn’t long before he brought him to his side.
However, despite the early praise, Nunes struggled to convince Guardiola when initially joining the club.
Signed after a standout season in Wolves’ midfield, the former Sporting player never showed enough positional consistency or tactical awareness to establish himself as a midfielder in Guardiola’s highly controlled system. But there was another role waiting for him.
The tough transition to full-back
After spending half of the 2023/24 season as a secondary figure in Pep Guardiola’s squad, Nunes was prepared by the Catalan coach to take on the right-back role - a position that has long been a source of problems and uncertainty in City’s starting 11.
Despite some erratic performances and even costly mistakes in key matches (such as last season’s Manchester derby), Guardiola continued to see Nunes as a full-back capable of making a difference for the Manchester side.
"He can be an incredible right-back because he’s a defensive midfielder with extraordinary physical ability (...) Now, it’s up to him. We talk about it a lot. It’s just a matter of changing his mindset and believing he can do it, because he has the special attributes to play out wide," he said earlier this season.
And as has often been the case over the years, Guardiola was right.
Nunes is no longer the box-to-box midfielder Sporting fans saw shine at Alvalade during Ruben Amorim’s first league title, but rather the ideal full-back for a team that wants to dominate possession and build play from the back.
Impressive numbers
After a season adapting to the right flank, Nunes has made the position his own and become one of the most important players for the sky blues.
In 2025/26, he has already surpassed his previous number of Premier League starts since arriving at the Etihad, and the stats back up the positional change made by the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.
According to Opta data, Matheus Nunes is the Manchester City player with the most touches in the Premier League (1,931), which immediately highlights the role the Portuguese international plays in Guardiola’s team. A full-back with a midfielder’s DNA, able to carry the ball and build from deep.
On top of that, the former Sporting man also leads Manchester City in ball recoveries (120) and is second in successful passes (1,287), and he stands out in duels won - third best with 107, behind Jeremy Doku (115) and Nico O'Reilly (121).
But the stat that really underlines his new dimension is the number of successful passes ending in the final third - 377, the best mark at Manchester City, ahead of Bernardo Silva.
Even though he plays on the right flank, the Portuguese international links the build-up phase to the creative zone, making the most of his strengths as a midfielder in the team’s attacking play. Still, his growing influence doesn’t erase the weaknesses that remain part of his game.
That prominence, of course, comes at a price. Nunes is also the City player with the most misplaced passes (162) and the most times losing possession (264) in the Premier League.
The numbers reflect the profile of a full-back who often drifts inside, receives under pressure, and takes responsibility for speeding up play with carries and vertical passes. His 17 completed dribbles - the fifth best in the squad - help explain the midfielder-turned-full-back profile.
Breakthrough in time for the 2026 World Cup?
To complete his transition from ball-carrying midfielder to build-up full-back, Nunes still needs to earn the spot he’s never had with the Portuguese national team.
Despite 17 caps, he has started only two official matches and has yet to do so under Roberto Martínez. Since EURO 2024, the coach has only used him in the last qualifier for the 2026 World Cup.
The context, however, has changed. After using Joao Neves as a right-back in the Nations League, Portugal’s system now seems to allow for a hybrid profile, and that’s exactly where the new version of Matheus Nunes fits in.
The competition is tough - Joao Cancelo, Diogo Dalot, and Nelson Semedo have been Martínez’s main choices - and the Portuguese has only 17 minutes as a right-back for the national team.
Even so, what he’s shown in the Premier League, in a much more demanding environment, puts him not only in contention for a squad place but also in the conversation for a starting spot.
After admitting he only accepted the position change “after listening to a lot of people and talking to the psychologist”, there’s no more doubt: the adaptation has gone better than anyone expected.
