Juanma Lillo believes Matheus Nunes is a real team player as he looks forward to working with City’s newest recruit.

Nunes signed on the dotted line for the sky blues on transfer deadline day, becoming in the process our fourth acquisition of the summer.

Lillo is excited about the potential of Nunes, having come up against him when City faced Sporting in the Champions League Round of 16 of 2021/22.

The assistant boss likes that the attacking midfielder has focus on the collective rather than the individual.

“I think Pep has already made reference to Matheus a while back,” said Juanma.

“It surprised us against Sporting in the Champions League. In that game it was 5-0. Everything happened quickly - it wasn’t a real scoreline.

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“[He] carried on playing and showed his personality. [He] has the understanding of a collective team.

“It put us on guard and this player, we started looking at him and following him. No surprise. He will offer us lots in the future.”

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While Juanma began work with Matheus this week, one player he’s known considerably longer is Oscar Bobb.

The 20-year-old is another product of our exceptional Academy system, following the likes of Phil Foden and Rico Lewis into the first team set-up.

Bobb has been training with the seniors for the past few seasons and Juanma says he has ‘conditions’ that are respected and admired by Pep Guardiola and the whole coaching staff.

“Oscar, I’ve known him from my previous period here,” added Juanma.

“He’s a player who really stood out. It happens with a lot of players. 

“He has conditions which are valued by Pep and the club and us. He wouldn’t be here otherwise.

“We have to let him go through the process but he has great conditions.”