Matheus Nunes should not sit in the background of Manchester City’s post-Pep Guardiola reset. He gives Enzo Maresca one of his first tactical calls.
City’s latest video package on Nunes’ 2025/26 season described the Portugal international as a midfielder by trade who has developed into one of the Premier League’s best right-backs.
That matters because Maresca has inherited more than a successful squad. He has inherited the positional ideas Guardiola left behind.
Manchester City confirmed Maresca’s appointment on a three-year deal until 2029, with the club talking up his ability to reflect and evolve their football identity. ReadManCity has already covered why Maresca’s appointment starts the first real post-Guardiola test.
Nunes now sits close to the centre of that test.
Nunes Has Become More Than Cover
City no longer treat Nunes as an emergency full-back. They have turned him into a serious part of the team’s build-up.
When City marked his 100th appearance, they detailed his route from midfield to left wing and then to right-back after Kyle Walker’s exit from the role. By the end of the previous campaign, he had supplied 11 assists in 43 appearances.
This season pushed the point further. City’s own 2025/26 midfield review listed Nunes with 49 appearances, 4,015 minutes and seven assists. It also said he had developed into one of the Premier League’s best right-backs.
ReadManCity has already looked at how Guardiola’s praise for Nunes changed the right-back picture. Maresca now has to decide whether to keep that idea at the heart of the team.
Right-Back Is Now A System Role
The key point with Nunes is not just where he starts. It is what City ask him to do.
In December, Nunes told City that full-back felt very different from midfield. He spoke about moving wide, stepping inside, dropping deeper and dealing with some of the best attackers in the league.
That is the modern City full-back job. It is not only about defending the flank or overlapping on the outside. It is about giving the team an extra midfielder when they need control and an extra runner when they need width.
Maresca cannot treat that casually.
If Nunes moves inside, the winger must hold width and the right centre-back must defend more space. If he overlaps, the midfield has to protect the counter. If he stays conservative, City lose some of the movement that made him useful.
That decision will also affect Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Rodri. City’s right-back role shapes the distances around the whole side.
Maresca Needs A Clear Plan Before Asia Tour
The calendar gives Maresca little time to drift.
City’s Nunes video also confirmed their Asia Tour schedule: Inter in Hong Kong on 1 August, a K League All-Stars game in Seoul on 5 August and Atletico Madrid in Seoul on 9 August. ReadManCity has already argued that Maresca’s Asia Tour gives City a fast control test.
Those games give him an immediate look at whether Nunes remains the default right-back, needs specialist competition, or works best in a shared role.
City have already seen the problem with overloading converted players. Nunes offers huge upside because he can receive under pressure, drive through midfield and arrive in crossing areas. The trade-off is clear: he still has to defend like a specialist every week.
That demands concentration, not just athleticism.
Nunes Is An Early Maresca Identity Call
The simple view says Nunes has solved City’s right-back issue. The better view is that he has made it more interesting.
He gives Maresca continuity from the Guardiola era, but also a decision about how far City should carry those late-era inventions forward.
If Maresca keeps the right-back role expansive, Nunes looks central to the new structure. If he narrows it, City will need to find control somewhere else.
Neither route is automatically wrong. The important thing is that Maresca chooses deliberately.
Nunes has earned more than a highlights reel. He has earned a proper place in the first big tactical conversation of the new City era.
