Pep must surely regret selling Man City star for £21m

Where do Manchester City go from here?

On Sunday, the Sky Blues were steamrollered 5-1 by Arsenal, completely capitulating after Erling Haaland had headed home a second-half equaliser, conceding a few seconds after kick off and then three times more after that.

This is the first time Man City have conceded five open-play goals in the same Premier League match since 2008. It is the heaviest defeat of Pep Guardiola‘s managerial career and means the Citizens have now conceded more goals this season than Manchester United, despite the fact their neighbours are languishing in 13th.

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After Saturday’s FA Cup trip to Leyton Orient, they’ll face Real Madrid twice, Newcastle, Liverpool, Spurs and then Nottingham Forest, so things certainly don’t get much easier, with opposition teams continuing to exploit Man City’s right-sided weakness.

Manchester City’s current right-back options

In early January, following the 8-0 demolition of Salford, Guardiola revealed that club captain Kyle Walker had asked to leave the club and “explore options abroad”, with the 34-year-old joining A.C. Milan on loan a week or so later, debuting for I Rossoneri by starting Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina, which ended 1-1.

In terms of arrivals during the winter window, as noted by Philip Buckingham of the Athletic, Man City spent £178m, which he points out is more than the other 19 Premier League clubs combined, and “four times” as much as the next highest-spending side, who were Wolves.

The Sky Blues recruited centre-backs Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Juma Bah, the latter immediately loaned out to Lens, as well as striker Omar Marmoush and central midfielder Nico González, the Spaniard arriving on deadline day from Porto for a reported £50m.

However, no right-backs were signed, neither to replace Walker in numerical terms, nor to fix a position that had already been problematic.

20-year-old Rico Lewis is the most obvious option for this position, and earlier this season Guardiola praised the youngster, labelling him “so intelligent”, adding “he’s playing because he’s playing really good”.

Well, in more recent weeks, he hasn’t been playing, seeing just 18 minutes of action across the last four Premier League games, introduced at Ipswich with the score already 6-0, not starting any of the last seven matches in any competition.

Instead, having been trialled as a left-winger earlier in the campaign, Matheus Nunes has started all seven of those fixtures at right-back, with Guardiola claiming the Portuguese international is making a lot of progress as a full-back.

However, Michael Cox of the Athletic describes Nunes as an “uncomfortable… makeshift right-back”, while Graham Ruthven of Forbes adds that he “doesn’t have the defensive instincts of a natural full-back”.

In short, Manchester City’s right-back situation is a mess, exacerbated by the fact they may have sold their best option for this position last summer.

Manchester City may have let their best right-back depart

Back in August, João Cancelo joined Saudi Pro League champions Al-Hilal for a reported £21m, but his Man City career had been over long before this, loaned out to both Bayern Munich and then Barcelona following a falling out with Guardiola, with Richard Martin of Goal believing the “final straw” came in January 2023.

In his pomp, Cancelo was “one of the best if not the best attacking full-backs in world football”, as noted by Phil Foden, and there are signs that the Portuguese defender is rediscovering his best form in Saudi Arabia.

Cancelo has impressed in an Al-Hilal shirt, with an article in Breaking the Lines claiming his “consistent performances” have “validated the investment”, the right-back himself saying “I am at home… people have shown me very important love and hospitality, and this is something I appreciate”.

While on international duty with Portugal in November, Cancelo claimed he “thought [the Saudi League] would be much easier”, adding that the perceived lack of intensity “is a myth…you wouldn’t know because you’ve never played there”.

So, let’s see how his statistics this season compare to Nunes.

As shown in the table, Cancelo comes out on top in most metrics, both in and out of possession, with the obvious caveat being that he is playing at a lower level; global football rankings believe the Premier League to be the strongest league in the world, with the Saudi Pro League ranked at 31st.

Nevertheless, only one defender has accumulated more assists in the Saudi Pro League, while much of Cancelo’s best work has come in the AFC Champions League, racking up five assists in seven appearances, scoring against both Al-Rayyan and, most recently, Persepolis on Tuesday night.

Thus, these performances suggest Guardiola may rue the day he cast Cancelo aside.

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