Manchester City have identified Matheus Nunes as a potential late transfer target but despite news coming as a surprise, the silky midfielder has long been on Pep Guardiola's radar.
The Manchester Evening News understands that Nunes is of interest to City as they look to bulk up midfield options in an uncharacteristically chaotic end to the window. The Blues are also eyeing a move for Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze, having seen their £80million approach for Lucas Paqueta fall through amid an ongoing betting investigation into the West Ham man.
City are being forced to act late in the window amid an ongoing injury crisis and the exit of key players. Kevin De Bruyne lasted just 23 minutes against Burnley earlier this month before a recurring hamstring issue resurfaced, forcing him to undergo surgery that will keep him out until the new year.
Both Nunes and Eze have been on City's radar for some time, but the former has attracted particular interest from Guardiola since his days at Sporting CP. The Catalan took his side to Portugal for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in February 2022, romping to a dominant 5-0 win - but one player in green and white caught the manager's eye.
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"Sporting is a fantastic team," Guardiola admitted his his post-match press conference that evening. "They are the champions of Portugal, which has a very strong league, with FC Porto and Benfica, they change the ball well, they have fast and intelligent players.
"Matheus Nunes is one of the best players in the world today. Despite the difficulties and some mistakes, I have to be very satisfied because we took a big step towards the next round. Nunes is one of the best at the moment."
Wolves seemingly heard that high praise for Nunes and proceeded to spend £42.2m on him the following summer. The Portuguese international consistently impressed during his debut season at Molineux, attracting transfer interest from Liverpool.
And it was during last season that the 24-year-old again caught the eye of Guardiola, whose City side beat a 10-man Wolves 3-0 in September.
"As a team they play really well, [Nathan] Collins and [Max] Kilman have a quality, and all the people up front, [Ruben] Neves, [Joao] Moutinho, [Pedro] Neto, [Goncalo] Guedes and [Daniel] Podence.
"They have incredible quality. The Portuguese teams are very good, they can keep the ball, they don't lose the ball, they are so dynamic.
"And Nunes is a machine at attacking the spaces, yeah it was a really, really good side."
It is no surprise that City have expressed an interest in Nunes, given Guardiola's constant praise for the midfielder and his need for additions in that area. But it will likely take a huge bid to convince Wolves to part ways with their star so late in the window.
City will not go above and beyond too sign a midfielder in the next week or so, having walked away from previous deals when the price is too high.
The transfer window is in full swing and City have been busy, with high-profile signings and sales aplenty.
City snapped up Croatian pair Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively, while Treble winners Ilkay Gundogan departed for Barcelona and Riyad Mahrez moved to Saudi Arabia. Aymeric Laporte's future at the club is now a hot topic too after City accepted an offer from Al Nassr for his services. Keep an eye on that one over the next couple of days.
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