As Manchester City midfielder Matheus Nunes was quite young when he left Brazil for Portugal, he’s not very well known in his own country.
That means most football fans in South America only really heard of him when he started doing well for Wolverhampton Wanderers and drew Pep Guardiola’s attention.
That’s the reason the Brazilian media has been quite inaccurate when speaking about him, and some of that is explained by his mother in an interview with Premier League Brasil.
Catia Regina talked about a couple of stories that have been bothering her since the press started talking about Nunes.
“There are a few lies. One is that I came to Portugal with my Portuguese husband – I was never married to a Portuguese man! My now ex-husband is English, so that’s a lie and it came out in Brazil, it’s hard.
One of the reasons the Manchester City midfielder ended up being criticised in Brazil is because of his choice to play for the Portuguese national team.
Catia Regina gave their own version of the story, claiming Portugal were far more sensible when convincing the player, and she’s obviously, and understandably, angry with the way some in the Brazilian media have attacked her son.
“It wasn’t a choice as it seems. I’m indignant because I get tired of seeing: ‘The baker who rejected the Brazilian national team’. People like to sell news, so they put something out there to attract attention. But they don’t think that that player has a family, he’s a human being, he’s not a machine.”
Despite Nunes’ €62m move to Manchester City this summer, the player’s time in England ended up not being a big part of the interview.
