Julen Lopetegui is pleased with the way Matheus Nunes has adapted to his new position at Wolves.
The 24-year-old has recently been deployed in a left midfield role – a position he has never really operated in before.
Nunes played there against Liverpool recently and was really good.
He then operated there against Southampton, before moving more centrally against Bournemouth.
Against Fulham on Friday night, he was back out on the left, with Ruben Neves and Mario Lemina in the middle.
It has been quite the curve ball from Julen Lopetegui.
Nunes has never really played out wide before, with his best work coming as a number eight.
But Lopetegui believes Nunes has the capacity to play wide, and is pleased with the way he has taken to his new role.
He said (Birmingham Mail): “It’s not his first time, he has played there in the last few matches – not against Bournemouth, but against Liverpool and Southampton too. He has the quality to play here. He starts on the wing, but after he can go into midfield.
“He is trying to adapt to this position. He has the conditions to have a good performance in this situation; he’s strong, he’s potent and he has a good quality.
“Maybe he has to improve a little bit his finishing – he can do it – but we are happy with him.”
The experiment with Nunes came about as a result of a recent injury to Daniel Podence.
Lopetegui has also watched Lemina become a hugely important player for Wolves in a short space of time.
The 29-year-old is very effective playing at holding midfield and allowing Neves to play further forward.
The jury is still out on Matheus Nunes playing left midfield position for Wolves
Lopetegui may be pleased with how Nunes has handled his recent position change.
But the jury is definitely still out on him playing in that wide position.
It is not a natural role for him. But he does have the pace, power and technical quality to be a success there.
Having said that, Wolves could miss’ Nunes dynamism in those central areas. Dave Edwards said recently that he would like to see Nunes getting higher up the pitch and actually getting into the box more.
He’s at his very best when operating as a number eight, carrying the ball through the lines and advancing the team up the pitch.
It remains to be seen if Lopetegui will persist with playing him out wide.