On the Here We Go podcast, Fabrizio Romano spoke about how interested Manchester City were in Nuno Mendes.
For a large chunk of last season, Pep Guardiola was playing Joao Cancelo as a left-back, despite his natural position being on the opposite flank, so targeting a natural left-back would not have been a bizarre move from the Premier League champions, but failed to land Mendes following summer links.
Should Man City have signed a new left back?
Yes!
No!
It wasn’t a bust window for Mendes, however, as the Portuguese left-back was picked up on a temporary basis by Paris Saint-Germain, who currently have two fit natural left-backs at the club in Juan Bernat and Teddy Alloh – much to the disappointment of Man City, who were keen to bring him to Manchester, as Romano spoke about on his podcast.
Man City’s interest was discussed by Romano on the Here We Go podcast.
“What I wanted to say on this deal and about the behind-the-scenes of this story is really important to say about Manchester City, because they wanted Nuno Mendes, they really wanted Nuno Mendes.
“They had the chance of signing this player on deadline day because his agent, Miguel Pinho, was talking [for] a long time with Man City, with Paris Saint-Germain and with Manchester United.
“Manchester United were not looking at this option because they have [Alex] Telles, they have Luke Shaw, so they are really happy with their left-backs. But Manchester City had a serious interest in this player, but they wanted to pay for a different value of Nuno Mendes.
“It was June, and they were discussing about an opening proposal around €20 million but Sporting said no to this kind of value. They wanted around €40 million for Nuno Mendes and [Manchester City] decided to say okay, not this summer, we are not signing the player, let’s see in the future, we will follow him for the future.”
TIF Thoughts on Nuno Mendes…
Despite Man City’s need for another natural left-back, it’s unlikely that Mendes would have been an immediate starter for Guardiola’s side given he is still just 19 years old, but it may well have been a good signing to let him train and learn from experienced players such as Kyle Walker and Cancelo.
PSG have only brought in Mendes on loan with an option to buy next summer, so Man City, if they are still interested next year, may move for the full-back if he doesn’t impress the Parisian side this season.
The full-back, despite his tender age, will be pushing for a starting spot in Ligue 1 having proved himself in Sporting Lisbon’s side last season featuring 29 times, registering one goal and one assist as the Portuguese side did the double.