Manchester City star Matheus Nunes
Manchester City star Matheus Nunes
View 2 Images
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." That was what Matheus Nunes thought and said for at least six months whenever anybody tried to tell him he had the potential to make it as a full-back.
His friends, his family, his close teammates Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, his manager Pep Guardiola, and his psychologist all tried at various points to tell the Manchester City midfielder that he should embrace the new role he was being offered and they all received the same response. Even if Guardiola wanted it that way, Nunes wasn't having it.
And so an unhappy first season at the Etihad became two years of Nunes being frustrated. He couldn't get minutes in the midfield position he had been bought for, and didn't want them in the position that he was trialled in from December 2024.