Matheus Nunes: The Tactical Right-Back Reinvention

“He can become one of the best.” Coming from Pep Guardiola - Who has coached right backs like Dani Alves, Philipp Lahm, Joshua Kimmich, and Kyle Walker over the course of his managerial career—that is no small praise. Matheus Nunes is the player on the receiving end of it.

When City signed Nunes from Wolves for £53m two years ago, the plan was clear: to rejuvenate a midfield that had just seen the departures of İlkay Gündoğan and Cole Palmer while adding an element of explosiveness in the centre of the park. In the hybrid double pivot that characterized City’s play, Nunes was set to add another variation to Pep’s tactical repertoire: that of the box-to-box runner that would allow both fullbacks to stay wide on the overlap, precipitating the creation of overloads in wide areas.

Two years on, the landscape is vastly different. Having fallen down the pecking order in midfield, Nunes has found his footing in City’s backline, stepping up in the injury-ridden absence of Abdukodir Khusanov to start in five out of City’s last six matches. In contrast to the last two seasons (or even the opening few games of this campaign), Nunes seems to have finally attained a run of consistency in his newfound role.

The role itself is multifaceted, and this brings us to one of Nunes’s biggest strengths: tactical versatility. With Nunes on the right, City can select from among a plethora of options. The most common is Nunes overlapping and maintaining width on the flank, thereby allowing the right winger to invert into the half-space and threaten in areas closer to goal. Two aspects of Nunes’s skillset allow him to flourish in this setup: his crossing ability and his recovery pace.

However, since Nunes is originally a central midfielder, another option that he offers at RB is to invert into the right side of midfield. With Phil Foden playing more centrally (almost as a second striker), this results in the formation of a diamond structure in midfield—conducive for the creation of overloads.

In their recent 2-0 win over Villarreal in the Champions League, Nunes enabled Pep to deploy yet another tactical variation. Akin to his role in their treble-winning season (22/23), John Stones forayed forward from centre back into defensive midfield, and in order to maintain defensive stability behind him, Nunes tucked in as a right centre back to form a back three. This performance was the one that prompted Pep Guardiola’s recent praise: “He can be an incredible right back.”

Statistically, Nunes stands out in a multitude of metrics. His ball-carrying ability is exceptional, with Nunes placing in the 94th percentile for progressive carrying distance and the 97th percentile for number of carries per 90 minutes as compared to other fullbacks across Europe’s top competitions. His passing competence is underrated; while his fall down the pecking order in City’s midfield was partly due to his unsteadiness in tight spaces, he is adept at maintaining the pace of ball circulation, as depicted by an impressive 98% passing accuracy against Villarreal. Moreover, Nunes possesses an indefatigable workrate, placing in the 95th percentile for tackles made by fullbacks in the attacking third of the pitch (all statistics via FBref).

Nunes’s most significant evolution during his time at City has unequivocally come defensively. Every time he is on the pitch, the Portuguese player’s desire to fight for second balls and duels is evident, and his aptitude at reading the game has raised his defensive skillset to a more prudent, anticipatory level too, ensuring that he is not rash when heading into tackles or challenges.

In Guardiola’s words, “He has special attributes to play in the sides, and in the last two or three games he has played unbelievable.” With Khusanov out injured, he is making the right back role his own. Combined with his versatility and palpable fighting mentality, Matheus Nunes is proving himself to be indispensable.

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