It is fair to say that Manchester City are going through a difficult period in their season after they lost their fourth Premier League match in a row on Sunday.
The Cityzens were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Anfield, thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, and that came after defeats to Bournemouth, Brighton, and Tottenham Hotspur.
Pep Guardiola’s side also lost to Spurs in the League Cup and were beaten 4-1 by Sporting in the Champions League, the same competition in which they chucked away a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord.
This means that City have lost six of their last seven matches in all competitions and have failed to win since they beat Southampton 1-0 at the end of October.
Manchester City are now fifth in the Premier League table and a whopping 11 points behind Liverpool at the top of the division, which shows how much of an uphill battle it is now going to be to secure a fifth straight title.
The January transfer window opens for business next month and the club could dip into the market to give the team a better chance of a resurgence in the second half of the season.
Manchester City eyeing Premier League star
According to The Boot Room, Manchester City do have an interest in Wolverhampton Wanderers attacking midfielder Matheus Cunha ahead of January.
The report claims that the Cityzens and Liverpool both had scouts in attendance to watch Bournemouth beat Wolves 4-2 in the Premier League on Saturday, as both clubs are keen on several players across the two squads.
It states that Cunha is one of the players both sides are interested in, whilst Bournemouth centre-back Illya Zabarnyi, who won seven of his eight battles in the match, has also caught the eye of the Premier League giants.
The Boot Room adds that Rayan Ait Nouri and Milos Kerkez were the main reasons for the scouts being in attendance, as Liverpool and City wanted to have a closer look at how the left-backs fared for their respective teams on Saturday.
Kerkez scored the opening goal in the match for the Cherries, but also lost four of his five duels, whilst Ait Nouri won 12 of his 18 duels throughout the game, and the report claims that Liverpool and the Cityzens have held a long-term interest in both players.
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It is Cunha, however, who City should now press ahead with a deal for when the January transfer window opens for business next month, because he has the quality to be Guardiola’s answer to Arsenal star Martin Odegaard.
Why Matheus Cunha is similar to Martin Odegaard
Wolves manager Gary O’Neil compared him to the Gunners captain, and City star Bernardo Silva, and refused to place a limit on the Brazil international’s potential as a player.
The English head coach said: “I love working with him. His talent is incredible, obviously. But if you watch the top players, they’re able to do it week in week out. Watch people like Bernardo Silva, Martin Odegaard. They’re all top with or without the ball and Matheus, the numbers he’s producing at the minute are up there with everybody.
“He’s going to stay at Wolves for as long as possible, firstly. But after that, there’s no limit to where he can go.”
This is incredibly high praise for Cunha because Odegaard is one of the finest creative midfield players in the Premier League, and has been for several years.
The Norway international scored eight goals and provided ten assists in 35 appearances in the top-flight during the 2023/24 campaign, and has had a strong start to the current season either side of his absence through injury.
Non-penalty xG
0.14
Top 21%
Assists
0.36
Top 2%
Expected Assisted Goals
0.16
Top 22%
Shot-creating actions
5.03
Top 7%
Progressive passes
9.58
Top 1%
As you can see in the table above, Odegaard currently ranks very highly amongst his positional peers in a host of key playmaking statistics in the Premier League.
City have lacked a creative presence like Odegaard, with Kevin de Bruyne limited to four league starts, due to injury, and Cunha could come in to be Guardiola’s answer to the Norway international, based on his form since the start of last season.
Why Man City should sign Matheus Cunha
The 25-year-old Premier League star has proven his quality in the English top-flight and is a player who could come in and hit the ground running in the second half of the campaign, as he already knows how to deliver week-in-week-out at that level.
Cunha, who can also play as a centre-forward, has been deployed as a number ten for Wolves this season, often playing behind Jorgen Strand Larsen, a physical and towering striker in a similar style – but not quality – to Erling Haaland.
The Brazilian whiz ended the 2023/24 campaign with a return of 12 goals and seven assists in 32 appearances in the Premier League, and has made an incredible start to this term for the Old Gold.
He ranks within the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers in the league for non-penalty goals per 90 (0.59) and the top 12% for Expected Assisted Goals per 90 (0.33), which shows that the gem has been one of the best in his position as both a scorer and a creator.
Appearances
13
6
xG
3.24
1.64
Goals
7
1
Big chances created
9
3
Assists
3
2
As you can see in the table above, Cunha has offered even more than Odegaard in the final third for his team in the Premier League, with an eye-catching 16 goals and ‘big chances’ created combined in 13 outings.
Meanwhile, no player other than Haaland (12) has scored more than three times in the league for Manchester City, and no player in the squad has created more than six ‘big chances’.
These statistics suggest that the potential is there for the Wolves sensation to come in and improve the Cityzens as an attacking unit, by being Pep’s own Odegaard, and that is why the club should push to bring him in.
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