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With a move for Tino Livramento this summer now off the table, Manchester City look likely to head into the new season with the same options they had at the end of the last campaign.
The permanent end of Kyle Walker’s eight-year stay at the Etihad this summer means that position is now up for grabs. City did hold an interest in 22-year-old Livramento earlier in the window, although they never made a bid and have now ruled out an approach.
With most of their transfer business now done, City’s focus is on shifting players out, bar perhaps a change in goal if Ederson leaves and James Trafford returns, so the battle for right-back will be a familiar one.
Walker’s form fell apart last season and he moved to AC Milan on loan in January, leaving Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes to fight it out. Nunes played 19 games at right-back last season and Lewis 22 games, but those figures might be reversed.
Nunes certainly seems to have the edge at the moment, with Lewis hindered by the red card he picked up against Wydad AC in the Club World Cup, which ruled him out for the rest of the tournament.
Portugal international Nunes also ended last season in better form, starting nine of the final 12 Premier League games. He also earned praise from Pep Guardiola after a goalless draw at Old Trafford in April.
Guardiola’s answer actually ended Nunes’ slim chances of ever making it as a midfielder at the Etihad, but he did speak warmly about his abilities as a right-back.
"He [Nunes] can become a good right-back for his physicality," Guardiola said. "I think he's not a player to play in midfield because he's not clever enough, in the composure, but he has incredible skills and he's learning a lot.
"The big mistake of full-backs is when you have the cross to the far post where you are, they are always sleeping.
"But he defended really well two or three crosses, like when Bruno [Fernandes] put it to the far post for [Patrick] Dorgu.
"He has the attention and the physicality to do it, so he can play in that position and help us a lot."
Nunes has made 72 appearances for the Blues since his £53million move from Wolves two years ago, and they tell a story about his time at the club. According to Transfermarkt, 27 of them have been in a midfield role, 19 at right-back, 10 on the left wing, three on the right wing, and one at left-back. He has played everywhere except central defence and centre forward.
That is because he has failed to make the grade in the position he was signed to play. Guardiola was a big admirer of Nunes when City beat Sporting in the Champions League, but doubts grew when he got the chance to work with him every day.
Instead, he has been repurposed, first as a left-sided midfielder and now as a right-back, and it looks like he will get another season to make the latter spot his own.
It’s not ideal having a player learning on the role, but Nunes is still young enough to reinvent himself at 26, and he has shown the quality and positional understanding to get forward. That made Guardiola’s praise of his defensive attributes after the Manchester derby even more significant.
Nunes is the hot favourite to start at right-back against his former club on the opening weekend of the season.
Last year, Nunes got four minutes at Molineux. The year before, he started in midfield and was hooked at half-time, consistently targeted by the Wolves fans for the manner of his move. They will try to get to him again on August 16. If Nunes can overcome that challenge, he will be in pole position to become first-choice right-back.
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