The reluctant reinvention of Matheus Nunes

For the best part of a year, Matheus Nunes was a man at war with his own reflection. The Portugal international arrived at City from Wolves in August 2023 as a midfielder, and he was determined to stay one. Football, however, had other ideas.

Shuffled between the left wing and an unfamiliar left-back role for a pre-Christmas derby against United, Nunes endured an afternoon he still ranks as the toughest of his career. A late penalty conceded brought United level before Amad Diallo snatched a stoppage-time winner. “Individually, I would say this is probably the most difficult game,” he admitted in a recent interview.

That night encapsulated everything wrong with his makeshift existence. He was neither one thing nor the other — a square peg being hammered into whichever hole was vacant.

The Club World Cup turning point

The shift came the following summer, at the expanded Club World Cup in the United States. Under the defensive guidance of assistants Pep Lijnders and, in particular, former Arsenal ‘Invincible’ Kolo Toure, Nunes began to look like he belonged at the back.

So convincing was the transformation that supporters and team-mates started calling him ‘Cafunes’ — a nod to Brazil’s World Cup-winning full-back Cafu. By April, even Pep Guardiola was moved to describe him as becoming one of the best right-backs in the world.

Quite a journey for a man who spent months telling anyone who would listen otherwise.

“I spoke to so many people. I have a psychologist. I spoke to my friends. I would tell my friends all the time, ‘I’m not a full-back, I’m not a full-back’.”

Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias were relentless in their own campaign. “They were in my head constantly. ‘You were good there, you need to accept it’,” Nunes recalled.

Eventually, the 27-year-old conceded defeat — or perhaps victory, depending on your perspective. “At a certain point, you just have to see what the people are saying. You can’t be denying it for the rest of your life.”

Guardiola has since departed the Etihad, with former assistant Enzo Maresca now tasked with leading City into a new era. Whether the new boss sees Nunes as a full-back remains to be seen. The player himself, one suspects, has finally made his peace with the answer.