Manchester City may already have The Next Kevin De Bruyne as we give our heads a wobble for briefly doubting Pep Guardiola’s genius in their quarter-final win over Bournemouth.
Matheus Nunes hasn’t shown he’s the solution to any problem at Manchester City since his £53m move to the Etihad. Bought as a central midfielder who often played on the wing in his one season for Wolves, Pep Guardiola very quickly made up his mind that he wasn’t good enough to play in those roles before deciding he’s the (un)natural successor to Kyle Walker at right-back.
“It could be temporary but for the problems we have, he has the pace we don’t have,” Guardiola said when asked about Nunes playing at right-back last month. “It’s not his natural position but he’s helped us offensively and defensively and in some departments he’s learning a lot.”
One of those departments isn’t How To Play Right-Back. As Rico Lewis watched on from the bench, shortly after Lee Dixon’s cryptic claim that opponent Antoine Semenyo is “a handful when playing against a half-decent full-back”, Nunes contrived to make two basic errors beaten out of Proper Right-Backs before they’ve got hairs under their armpits to hand Bournemouth the lead.
Instead of playing the ball down the line or back to Abdukodir Khusanov, he passed the ball into no-man’s land in the middle of the pitch, granting a high-pressing Bournemouth exactly what they wanted, before failing to take note of Justin Kluivert coming in behind him at the back post to knock David Brooks’ excellent delivery across goal for Evanilson.
As Roy Keane said, he displayed a stunning “lack of football intelligence” which has so often been the case when he’s played there this season, leaving those of us watching with little option but to briefly question the judgement of his genius manager before Pep Guardiola’s half-time change forced us to give our heads a wobble.
An on-song Erling Haaland would have had a hat-trick before he drew them level soon after the break, but put a free header well wide, saw a telegraphed penalty saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga and put too much on a dink over the on-rushing goalkeeper. He has Nico O’Reilly to thank for getting his goal.
The attacking midfielder’s introduction came as a surprise with City chasing the game because a) the academy graduate was the preferred option ahead of Omar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish, and b) he came on at left-back, albeit nominally.
After a sighter seconds before, which saw him overhit a cross out for a goal-kick, O’Reilly delivered a perfect De Bruyne-esque pass along the deck for Haaland having found acres of space on the left wing. As if that didn’t announce the 20-year-old’s arrival to The Big Time sufficiently, he then laid on a similarly brilliant but very different assist to give City the lead.
O’Reilly pounced on a Semenyo slip that he forced by threatening in behind, then found fellow substitute Marmoush in space with a no-look pass with the outside of his left boot which again felt very De Bruyne in its vision, imagination, weight and stealth. That’s two assists to add to his three goals in the FA Cup this season.
It’s a well-timed copycat performance amid reports of De Bruyne’s departure at the end of the season which Guardiola did nothing to dispute ahead of this game. Having previously insisted that he would like the Belgian to follow Haaland in committing his future to the club, when asked again whether he would to have him in his squad to call upon next season, Guardiola plainly stated: “It is between the club and Kevin and his agent.”
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We’re not about to pretend De Bruyne is past it. There were glimpses of the sort of quality we’ve been treated to in English football for the last decade here, and playing the full 90+ minutes following two starts and impressive showings for Belgium during the international break show there’s life in the old dog yet despite Guardiola’s slightly confusing minute-managing this term.
But even City have PSR to consider, and Guardiola’s bosses will no doubt be asking their manager whether their second-most highly paid footballer is worth the £400,000 per week if he’s not going to be playing regularly, particularly after this devastating second-half display from an academy graduate who typically plays in his position.
There will be endless rumours of interest and mammoth City bids being prepared for The Next De Bruyne currently starring on the continent over the next weeks and months, and we’re not naive enough to think City won’t look to sign someone in his position, but given the gaping hole De Bruyne looks set to leave, here’s hoping this O’Reilly performance encourages Guardiola to hand him more opportunities in the remainder of the season to show whether he can at least play his part in filling it.