The making of an unlikely full-back

There was a moment, not so long ago, when Matheus Nunes looked like a square peg in a round hole at Manchester City. Signed from Wolves in August 2023, the Portuguese midfielder struggled to impose himself in Pep Guardiola's engine room. A spell out wide and a stint at left-back during 2024-25 brought mixed results.

Then fate intervened. Kyle Walker's influence waned midway through that season, and City suddenly needed a right-back. The assumption, widely held at the time, was that the club would have to enter the transfer market to replace one of the finest right-backs the Premier League has ever seen.

Instead, Guardiola looked at Nunes and saw something else entirely.

Reluctant beginnings

The player himself admits he was not immediately convinced. In a recent interview with Sam Lee for The Athletic, Nunes revealed he originally wanted nothing to do with the position. He told friends repeatedly that he was not a full-back. They told him otherwise.

"I spoke to so many people," Nunes said. "I have a psychologist. I spoke to my friends."

His inner circle were unanimous. "No, but you play so good there," they insisted. The message was reinforced from within the dressing room, where Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias took it upon themselves to get inside his head.

They were in my head constantly. 'You were good there, you were good there. You need to accept it.'

It was, by Nunes's own admission, a battle against his own insecurity. He recognised that rejecting the role could mean letting his opportunity at Manchester City slip away entirely.

Embracing the change

The turning point came when Nunes decided to listen. He stopped denying what those around him could see clearly, accepting that the stubbornness was costing him.

"At a certain point, you just have to see what the people are saying," he said. "You can't be denying it for the rest of your life."

Gradually, through the latter stages of 2024-25, Nunes rose to prominence in his new position. By last season, he had made the role his own, establishing himself as one of City's most consistent performers.

His pace, his willingness to overlap or drift into midfield, and his defensive solidity have made him the ideal fit. It is now difficult to imagine Enzo Maresca's side lining up without him at right-back.

Guardiola spotted the potential. But it took the player himself to embrace the transformation. Sometimes the hardest opponent to overcome is the voice in your own head.