Matheus Nunes is a 23-year-old Portuguese international who plays his football for Sporting Lisbon who are the Primeira Liga defending champions . Nunes is Brazilian by birth but chose to represent Portugal at international level. Nunes started his career with Estoril where he made six appearances before he attracted the attention of Sporting and in January 2019, he made the move to Lisbon club. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength and is now a key player in the team who have made the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League and are only second on goal difference in Primeira Liga. Nunes is now attracting some attention from Premier League sides with Everton linked with being the front runner for his signature. Nunes is part of an impressive crop of youngsters at Sporting and keeping hold of them will be critical in their long-term success.
This scout report and tactical analysis is set out to investigate Nunes’s game and why he is developing into one of the exciting young midfielders in Europe.
Positioning / role
Nunes is usually deployed in double pivot alongside fellow Portuguese midfielder Joao Palhinha, this is the tactics prefered by Sporting. This is an effective combination as Palhinha is a more defensive player and plays in the mould of a traditional number 6. Looking to disrupt the opposition attacking play and win the ball back. Whereas Nunes operates more as a number 8 looking to get forward and contribute to the attack more often, however, he doesn’t abandon his defensive duties.
This partnership has allowed Nunes to develop and excel. The heat map below shows the positions that Nunes operates in, showing he plays on the left side of the Double pivot. It shows he contributes in both halves of the field but slightly more in the opposition half.
Passing range
Nunes has a brilliant passing range, he can make passes of both short and long-range, which will soon become apparent. Nunes can play many different types of passes whether he is looking to switch the play or try and break lines with penetrative passes. Both types of passes will be looked at in this analysis. Having the ability to make and execute several different types of passes makes Nunes highly effective, as he can be effective in many aspects of the attacking play. The first example is looking at Nunes’s long-range passes especially his ability to switch the ball with long switches of play. This is shown brilliantly in a recent game for Sporting against Boavista Nunes has the ball on the left-hand side by the touchline.
