Matheus Nunes talks about how Phil Foden shocked him at Man City and draws analogies to Kevin De Bruyne.
Matheus Nunes is keen to take use of his opportunity at the Etihad after risking his legacy at Wolves to join with Manchester City.
Nunes has had a strong debut for City, impressing Pep Guardiola while he was on the ball, setting up a goal for Erling Haaland, and drawing similarities to Kevin De Bruyne.
The self-assured Portugal international, meanwhile, believes he still has a ways to go before he can be really compared to De Bruyne and has stated that he wants to establish himself as a star player at City. The midfielder discussed his goals and aspirations for his time at City, where he can be most successful, and whose player has surprised him the most in training in the second installment of an interview with Nunes (you can read the first part here).
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Nunes, who was born in Brazil, traveled to Wolverhampton and Lisbon before arriving at City, where he also had an impact from Sunderland thanks to his North East-born stepfather. Nunes was more focused on his team’s 5-0 loss than getting ahead of himself in light of the high-profile accolades after catching Guardiola’s attention when City defeated Sporting in 2021. He eventually went to Wolves for a club-record price.
However, City made a play for Nunes late in the summer transfer window, forcing him to make the move to the Etihad, which he now regrets. However, Nunes is only focused on the here and now, mapping out his path to regular minutes in the City midfield after taking his controversial return to Molineux on the chin lately.
“Every player is unique,” he remarked. “If not all of them, the majority of them possess a wide range of attributes. I have energy when I play. I enjoy having and recovering the ball a lot. to spend a lot of time in the box.
I don’t mind going higher or lower on the field if that’s how the manager wants me to be. Not only that, but everyone is excellent at carrying the ball; Kova [Mateo Kovacic], Kevin [De Bruyne], and Phil [Foden] are just a few examples. Though everyone is incredibly distinct, they all share certain characteristics.”
Guardiola compared Nunes’ ball-carrying abilities into the box to De Bruyne’s “explosive” qualities after Nunes made just a few City outings, but Nunes dismissed the parallels to his new teammate. He actually dislikes to being compared to other people.
“He was just comparing one characteristic but the rest you cannot compare,” . That’s what makes him unique among the others.
“All I want is to become the best version of myself. It’s up to other people’s opinions if it is superior to others or not. I have nothing to say about it. All I want is to give it my all.”
Nunes mentions Foden as another excellent player in his division, but he wasn’t prepared for the England star’s level of skill.
“He’s incredible. The Portuguese acknowledges, “It’s probably the one that surprised me the most.” “I was aware of his exceptional skill. He occasionally didn’t play as much as other players, or you didn’t see him as much. However, training with him—and I had a great connection with him on the field—it simply occurs. Just as he enjoys playing short pieces, so do I. Considering his age, he is an amazing player. He’s not too old yet.
Considering how competitive the central regions are, Nunes feels at ease playing “anywhere,” from number six to number ten. “I even play as a centre-back or right back,” he claims. “I’m not suited for this role. Where I excel is well known to everybody. But if necessary, I can.”
He broke into the box to the byline and chipped a flawless cross directly onto the head of the striker for his assist for Haaland against Red Star last month. In addition to aiming for more assists, he has also hinted at having a goal-scoring eye of his own that he usually keeps concealed.
“I’m an offensive midfielder so I like to give assists sometimes more than goals,” he says. “I need to shoot more, most managers I’ve worked with have told me. I don’t shoot, therefore the fans are unaware of my skill. As you can see from my season-long statistics, I took about five shots and managed one goal. I must take more pictures.
“I scored a lot of goals and took a lot of shots when I was younger. Prior to joining Sporting, I played more as a six at Estoril. Perhaps playing low on the pitch caused me to lose my shooting sight. Upon moving to Sporting, I began playing at the age of eight and advanced.
“I can’t explain, people keep telling me in training and games, I sometimes have opportunities to shoot but I pass. Sometimes three, four, five times in a game I don’t shoot. I’m not known for scoring because I don’t shoot. It’s not that I miss a lot of goals, it’s because I don’t shoot.
“At Sporting my last goal was an amazing goal outside the box, my only goal for Wolves was an amazing goal. I feel I’m very good at shooting but I don’t shoot as often.”
“I like to assist. When you have someone like [Erling] Haaland, it’s easier for you to give assists. He’s always there, waiting for you to put the ball there. When you do, he scores. It makes it easier because he has such efficiency in scoring goals. Not only him, Julian [Alvarez] as well.”
Nunes has everything he needs to succeed at City if he can continue to provide assists, sprinkle in the odd (amazing) goal, and keep running into the box. under his unconventional professional path thus far and working under Guardiola, he has plenty of time to develop at the Etihad.
“I’m 25,” he states. I played for lesser divisions till I was 19, 20, and even though I started my professional career later than everybody else, I’m not that young. That being said, I still have a lot to learn and develop because some guys were better players from a younger age.
“Everything will become apparent eventually. Utilizing Pep,
