The 2023/24 season was a little underwhelming for Matheus Nunes – but the Manchester City midfielder has just received some really good news.
Nunes arrived at the club last summer at the end of the summer transfer window, completing a £53 million move from Wolves on deadline day.
The player briefly went on strike to bring the move to fruition, which angered the Molineux faithful. Nunes has said since that he felt this was necessary, with the opportunity simply too good to pass up.
Nunes went on to make 31 appearances for City across all competitions, but for just 1360 minutes.
He struggled to break into the team and stay there and recently, there was disappointment for him as he didn’t make it into Portugal’s Euro 2024 squad.
But there is good news for Nunes today…
Matheus Nunes is going to Euro 2024 after all, as Otavio pulls out of Portugal squad
Nunes had initially not been called up to the final Portugal squad for Euro 2024, with Roberto Martinez suggesting that he had fallen just short.
But on Monday, it was announced that Nunes had been called into the squad after Al Nassr midfielder Otavio was forced to pull out. The 29-year-old picked up a muscle tear in his final game for the Saudi Pro League club last Friday, and he therefore cannot play in the tournament.
Otavio’s loss is Nunes’ gain, and he will now have the opportunity to add to his 12 caps. Before Euro 2024, Portugal have friendlies against Finland on Tuesday, Croatia on Saturday and then the Republic of Ireland next Tuesday.
Nunes’ last appearance for his country came back in March of this year against Sweden. But he didn’t play a single minute of Portugal’s qualifying campaign for Euro 2024, and was only on the bench for one of those games. He wasn’t in the squad for the other nine.
An opportunity for Nunes
This is great news for Nunes, who will have been pretty gutted about missing out initially.
Given the pool of players at Martinez’s disposal, and his lack of minutes for City in 2023/24, he probably couldn’t have had too many complaints.
But now he has a chance to shine, and show that maybe he should have been chosen the first time.
Nunes should be feeling relatively fresh compared to a lot of players in that squad, and it’s possible he could have some involvement. Portugal have three friendlies now before flying out to Germany, and it’s important for him to take his opportunities when they come.
City may also been keen for him to impress this summer, with Euro 2024 something of a shop window for clubs.
That said, it was recently suggested that Pep viewed Nunes as a ‘useful’ player and wanted to get him involved a bit more next season. But Nunes needs to give the manager a reason to do that, and Euro 2024 could be his opportunity to send a bit of a message.