Becoming better, Nunes may become a new score for Manchester City s right-back. Do you need to continue investing in the summer?

The group stage of the 2025 Club World Cup has ended successfully. Under the leadership of Guardiola, Manchester City advanced to the knockout stage with a record of three wins and successfully won the generous prize of $51.7 million. What is even more commendable is that Manchester City seems to have regained the dominance they lost last season, and even the right-back position, which has always been regarded as a weakness, has begun to show new hope due to Mattus Nunes' outstanding performance. This makes people think: Will Manchester City need to invest again this summer to introduce right-back?

During the mini transfer window before the Club World Cup, Manchester City introduced four new players, namely Aitnuri, Sherki, Reindes and Bettineri. This Club World Cup has become the best time for these new players to integrate into the team. Fortunately, except for No. 3 goalkeeper Betty, the other three new players showed good form in the group stage. Especially in the 5-2 victory against Juventus, Aitnuri's performance at the left-back position was remarkable. He teamed up with left winger Duoku to form a very threatening left-wing offensive combination, making the opponent unable to defend.

And Manchester City also performed well on the right, with Savignho standing out with Mattus Nunes. Nunes' cross assist in the 26th minute of the first half triggered Kalulu's own own, and assisted Haaland in the second half, making his wonderful performance of creating two goals was impressive. The Portuguese midfielder, who had repeatedly made low-level mistakes last season, now seems to be at the right-back position.

From the perspective of technical characteristics, Mattus Nunes' best position is midfielder, including roles such as the Shadow Frontier, the Mid-middleman and the Central Frontier. With his excellent speed and footwork skills, he is also competent for wingbacks and wingbacks. However, when Manchester City introduced Nunes for €60 million, it was actually a hasty buy, because it failed to successfully introduce Declan Rice, and even Guardiola had no idea how to use him. At the beginning of the 2024/25 season, Nunes had few opportunities to play, and Manchester City even planned to sell it in the winter window.

With the transfer of captain Kyle Walker, Manchester City's right-back position has appeared. Young player Rico Lewis seemed unsatisfied when facing the Premier League heavyweight winger, so Guardiola recalled Nunes and allowed him to start playing the right-back. Although Nunes had played as a left-back before, Manchester United was defeated by Manchester United at home due to a mistake.

Nuness's performance was ups and downs during his time as right back, but at a critical period of Manchester City's four-game battle, he contributed assists and finals to help the team successfully score 6 points. From the perspective of physical fitness, Nunes obviously has more advantages than Rico Lewis, and his ability to break through the wing and cross from the wing is also relatively strong. However, in terms of defensive positioning and interception, Portuguese players still need to be improved. The defensive ability of new aid Aitunari is also worrying, so Manchester City's midfielder and central defender need to assume more defensive responsibilities in the new season. As long as this is done well, Nunes's shortcomings will not have much impact.

Therefore, if you can find a cost-effective full-time right-back in the transfer market, Manchester City can undoubtedly consider introducing it; but if it is a sky-high price of 75 million euros that Juventus wanted last season's winter window, it is completely unnecessary. After all, Akanji and Stones can also play on the right. If they can maintain a stable playing rate, Manchester City can still focus on cultivating Mattus Nunes and allow him to continue to grow at the right back position.