Better going into the future! Nunes may become the best solution for Manchester City s right-back. Do you still have to spend money to buy people in the summer?

The 2025 Club World Cup group stage has all ended. Manchester City, coached by Guardiola, won all three games and advanced to the knockout stage, and won a huge prize of $51.7 million. Compared with the record and bonus, Manchester City is even more gratifying that they have regained their dominance lost last season. Even the right-back position, which is regarded as the biggest weakness, found the best solution because Mattus Nunes's performance is getting better. This makes people wonder, is it necessary for Manchester City to spend money to buy a right-back this summer?

During the mini transfer window before the start of the Club World Cup, Manchester City signed four new players, including Aitnuri, Sherki, Reindes and Bettineri. This Club World Cup has become the best opportunity for several new players to integrate into the team. It is gratifying that in the three group matches, except for Betty, who is the No. 3 goalkeeper, the other three new players performed very well. Especially in a 5-2 victory over Juventus, Aitnuri, who started continuously at the left back position, continued to perform at the god-level, forming a left-wing attack corridor that scared the opponent's heart.

However, Manchester City performed well on the left, and the right composed by Savignho and Matt Usnunes is not inferior. Mattus made Kalulu's own own in the 26th minute of the first half, and assisted Haaland to score in the second half, making his own two goals impressive. The Portuguese midfielder, who made several low-level mistakes last season, now looks like he is in this position.

From the perspective of technical characteristics, Mattus Nunes is best at the center, and the shadow forward, front midfielder and central forward have performed well. Thanks to his good speed and footwork skills, he can also be competent for left and right wing forwards and wingbacks. However, when Manchester City signed him for 60 million euros, it was actually a hasty move after the failed bid for Declan Rice, and even Guardiola did not think about how to use him. In the 2024/25 season, Nunes didn't have many opportunities at the beginning, and Manchester City even planned to send him away in the winter window.

However, the departure of captain Kyle Walker made a vacuum at Manchester City's right-back position. Young player Rico Lewis has a congenital physical condition and is unable to meet the impact of the Premier League's powerful winger. In this case, Guardiola pulled Mattus Nunes from the bench and allowed him to start a cameo appearance as the right-back. In fact, before that, Nunes played as a left-back, but made a low-level mistake, which led to Manchester City being beaten by Manchester United at home.

During his days as a right back, Mattus Nunes' performance was still not very stable. But at the most critical moment of Manchester City's four-game competition, he contributed assists and finals in two consecutive games, helping Manchester City score 6 points.

From the perspective of physical fitness, Mattus Nunes is obviously much better than Rico Lewis, and his wing breakthroughs and crosses are also at a good level. Of course, the Portuguese still has a lot of room for improvement in defensive interception and positioning. But it should be noted that the defense of new players left-back Aitnuri is not very good. Manchester City's midfielder and central defender players need to do more in the new season in terms of supplementing defense and assisting defense. If this is done well, Mattus Nunes' weakness will be harmless.

So, if there is a full-time right-back with a very cost-effective performance in the transfer market, Manchester City can definitely win it. But if it was Cambiaso, who was asked for a sky-high price of 75 million by Juventus last season's winter window, it would be completely unnecessary. After all, Akanji and Stones can also play on the right side. If they can maintain a stable attendance rate, it is still feasible for Manchester City to focus on supporting Mattus Nunes in this position.