'One of the world's best players' - Why Pep Guardiola has insisted Man City spend £53m on Wolves disappointment Matheus Nunes

Despite effectively completing football by winning the treble last season, City have had two big problems to contemplate this summer with regards to their midfield.

The first conundrum they faced was replacing Ilkay Gundogan, who had scored 60 goals and contributed 40 assists in his seven years at the club. They may have signed Mateo Kovacic, but the Croatian is not as productive in an attacking sense as the German, and their pursuit of Declan Rice showed that they were still looking to further boost their midfield. When Arsenal outbid them for Rice, City's attentions turned to Lucas Paqueta, only for the move to fall through after it was revealed the Brazilian was facing an FA investigation for alleged betting breaches.

Kevin De Bruyne tearing his hamstring in the opening match of the season against Burnley, ruling him out of action until 2024, gave them added urgency to sign a midfielder. And even after forking out £56m ($70m) to sign Belgium winger Jeremy Doku, City felt compelled to go back into the market to get Guardiola another midfielder.

But why have they gone for Nunes? The midfielder was a hugely underwhelming record signing for Wolves, scoring just one goal and providing one assist following his £38m ($48m) move from Sporting last summer. He is also far from a regular for Portugal, boasting only 11 international caps, just two of which which have been starts in competitive matches.

Other top English clubs have looked at Nunes before and turned away, including Liverpool. According to a report in The Athletic, Liverpool considered signing him from Sporting in the summer of 2022, but ultimately concluded he was not yet ready to consistently perform for a top Premier League side.

His season with Wolves would have done little to convince Jurgen Klopp otherwise and the player himself admitted in December that he had not showed his potential. "I put more pressure on myself because I want to be the best, but I don’t think I did enough (in the first half of the season),” he said.

Nunes is not easily comparable to De Bruyne or Gundogan, but he shares attributes with both players and it is easy to see why Guardiola likes him. The 25-year-old was ranked No.6 among Premier League midfielders for successful dribbles last season, above De Bruyne and Rice. He loves to receive the ball under pressure and dribble his way out of trouble, creating space for himself and his team-mates.

He was also ranked 10th for ground duels won, meaning he is reliable at winning the ball back, a necessary skill for a team that wants to dominate possession as much as City. He also has a pass completion rate of 79.5 percent, putting him in the top 20% of attacking midfielders in Europe last season.

Nunes is very quick and has plenty of stamina too, another pre-requisite for being a successful City player. Qualities that do make him comparable to De Bruyne are his vision, his passing ability and his knack for scoring from long range. His only goal for Wolves was one to remember, a scorching bouncing strike into the top corner against Chelsea.

That brings us to the elephant in the room - Nunes contributed to a grand total of two Premier League goals last season, the thumping strike against Chelsea and one assist, a sweeping one-touch pass for Daniel Podence to score against Southampton.

In fact, last season the midfielder had as many goal contributions in 34 appearances in the Premier League as he did in two matches in the Portuguese top flight for Sporting. To be fair to Nunes, he was playing in a very defensive and dysfunctional Wolves team that had three different coaches throughout the season and scored only 31 goals, five fewer than any other team in the Premier League.

Nunes' statistics from his time at Sporting make for better reading, even if they are far from earth-shattering. He scored three goals and provided two assists in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, helping Sporting win the league title in the former, their first in 19 years. One of his best matches came in the Lisbon derby against Benfica, when he capped a dominant performance by heading in the only goal of the match in the 92nd minute.

City should not expect anything like the goal returns of De Bruyne or even Gundogan from their new man. But what they are signing is a highly versatile and committed midfielder who will play in any position he is asked to.

"He hates to lose," a source who knew Nunes from his time at Sporting tells GOAL. "He fights to win, he will bite the bullet during a match. He's not a maestro like De Bruyne, he is more of an all-action player who plays all over the pitch."

Nunes has a reputation for working hard off the pitch too, and not just in the gym. While he was in Sporting's Under-23s side, he would wake up at 5am to go and work in his family's bakery. While Wolves fans were understandably upset when he stopped turning up to training to force through his move to City, it does not mean he has a difficult personality. He is described as a "humble, hard-working kid".

Nunes' last match for Wolves may have been the harrowing 4-1 defeat by Brighton, when he was sent off in stoppage-time, but in his previous performance against Manchester United he showed what he will offer his new side.

Nunes was one of several Wolves players to shine at Old Trafford, and his best moment came when he launched an attacking move just outside his penalty area. Nunes dazzled past Luke Shaw, and when Casemiro came to rob the ball off him, he seized it straight back, dancing past compatriot Bruno Fernandes.

He was then off on his bike, shuttling through the middle of the pitch at speed before feeding Pablo Sarabia, only for Matheus Cunha to waste the glorious chance and hit the post. But Nunes had showed his fearlessness at taking players on in a vulnerable position and his ability to turn defence into attack in a matter of seconds. It is a trait not easily found and one Guardiola greatly admires.

Nunes may not be the Galactico signing some City fans were craving to replace Gundogan or De Bruyne, but Guardiola has a knack for spotting talent others have overlooked. He will be able to get the best out of Nunes and mould his many qualities into a complete player.

And rather than playing in a dysfunctional side unsure of how they want to play, Nunes is now part of a winning machine, with a coach who has always believed in him, and with team-mates who will be able to take advantage of his talent and not spurn it.