There is a new feel around the Etihad these days, and Matheus Nunes is not shy about putting his finger on it. As City prepare to open their Champions League campaign at the Estádio do Dragão tonight, the midfielder has been talking through what life looks like after Pep Guardiola — and why he believes the club has landed on the right man to follow him.
Asked to sum up Guardiola in a single word, Nunes did not exactly stick to the brief. Obsessive, the greatest, a genius — take your pick. But pushed to settle on one, he went with the one that carries the most weight.
“All of them. If I had to choose one in particular, the greatest.”
That chapter, he accepts, is closed. The trick now is not to dwell on it.
“Well, the chapter has now come to an end, so we try not to think about it or pay attention to it.”
There is plenty else to occupy the mind. A summer of movement has left the squad with fresh faces to integrate, and Nunes is clear about where the responsibility lies.
“A lot of things have been going on at the club, we’ve had new players come in, and there’s a lot more we need to think about at the moment.”
That means helping the arrivals settle, building chemistry and passing on the identity of the club. The senior figures and long-serving staff carry that burden now, he says, and the sooner it is done, the better.
On the evidence of his voice, the mood is not one of mourning. There is, he insists, a different kind of buzz around the place.
“Yes, definitely. There is new energy everywhere. It feels like a young energy, but it’s a very good feeling to have.”
The man driving that feeling is Enzo Maresca, a figure who knows these corridors well. He was here before, won everything with the club, and arrived with the standards already embedded. Nunes sees a manager whose model is built to win.
“Made to win. I think he has that mentality. He wants us to control the game, score goals and not concede.”
In a tactical sense, the comparison with Guardiola is not as wide as some might expect. Control the game, concede as little as possible — it is the same instruction, the same DNA that has run through the club since before Pep's arrival. What Guardiola did, Nunes suggests, was stamp that image over a longer period.
Maresca's strengths, in Nunes' view, are not limited to the tactical board.
“Tactical, man management, motivation, a bit of everything.”
He has everything a manager should have, Nunes adds, and though he is still at the beginning of his career, he is ready for everything. The club, he believes, made the best choice available.
“That is why the club has chosen him to be the manager and represent the city and club. I think they’ve made the best choice they could have made.”
There is a caveat, of course. This is a process, and processes do not change overnight. Nunes acknowledges they are still learning under the new regime.
“We are still learning, of course. It’s a process and it doesn’t change overnight.”
Tonight, the learning continues on the European stage, with Maresca taking charge of the club in the Champions League for the first time. Nunes was speaking to Gabriel Clarke ahead of Prime Video's coverage of Porto vs. Manchester City.