Manchester City have rotated their right-backs this season but two players are now beginning to stand out in the fight for the role.
Matheus Nunes
Matheus Nunes is winning the battle to be first-choice right-back at Manchester City
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Matheus Nunes might have looked on enviously at Rico Lewis on Tuesday night. A midfielder forced into a right-back role finally unleashed back in his favoured position.
It says plenty about both players that when the teamsheet dropped at Estadio de la Ceramica, there was never any doubt it was going to be Nunes at right-back and Lewis in midfield.
Nunes might have been signed as a £53million midfielder, but Pep Guardiola has long since abandoned any attempts to find a role for him there.
Of his 81 appearances, only 27 have come in a central midfield role and it’s nearly a year since he started a game centrally, in the chaotic Champions League draw with Feyenoord at the Etihad.
After last season’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, Guardiola said Nunes lacked the physicality to play in midfield, and although he referred to him as a midfield player last month, it was only in the sense of what he can bring in attacking areas.
“He’s a midfield player and in the final third he has the vision to do good passes, good assists, and I encourage him to try to do it again and again,” Guardiola said after Nunes had shone in the 5-1 win against Burnley, scoring one and creating another.
The City boss might still refer to Nunes as a midfield player, but his only chance of starting in this team is as a right-back. Lewis, on the other hand, still gets opportunities in midfield.
The two were considered rivals for the right-back slot this season after the failure to sign a specialist following Kyle Walker’s move to Burnley, but Nunes is winning the battle hands down.
The Portuguese has started six games at right-back this season, compared to Lewis’ two. He also started nine of the last 12 games of last season.
Lewis’s starts in that position this term came in the first two games of the season, when he seemed to play well and had just earned a new long-term contract, but he hasn’t been trusted there since, starting in midfield against Huddersfield and Villarreal. Has Guardiola given up trying to convert the academy graduate, who has made it clear he sees his future in midfield?
It’s given Nunes a reasonably free run at the right-back slot and he is playing well. He might not be the perfect option at the moment but in a team in a much better place than last season, he looks a lot more comfortable.
Guardiola spoke about his attacking qualities against Burnley but he was excellent defensively against Villarreal, reading the game well, tracking runners diligently and using his strength to win duels. He won four of his five duels, recovered possession three times and completed 97 of his 99 passes.
If he does face competition at right-back now, then perhaps it will come from Abdukodir Khusanov rather than Lewis. The Uzbek started three games in a row in that role against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal and looked excellent in all of them, but hasn’t been seen since limping out of the draw at the Emirates.
When he does return to fitness, it will be interesting to see if Khusanov comes back in at right-back, where his pace can be a vital weapon. His long-term future might be in central defence, but in the short-term, he might now be Nunes’ main competition at full-back.
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