This is taken from the GFFN 100, our leading 150-page FREE publication ranking the best 100 players in France, see the full list and read every profile right here.
To say this has been a frustrating year for Nuno Mendes is something of an understatement. After an impressive first year at Paris Saint-Germain, which saw him named to the UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Season, he has been dogged in the current campaign by a series of injuries, the last of which will see him out until the new year, having cut short his World Cup campaign with Portugal.
Still just 20, there is surely plenty more to come for the former Sporting Club player, but even taking those injuries into account, there has been some regression on Mendes’ part this season. Obviously, new PSG coach Christophe Galtier’s tactics will have played a role in that to some extent, but it’s difficult to suss out exactly what’s happened with Mendes, even as a long-term injury to Juan Bernat has meant he’s not faced much in the way of competition for his place in the eleven.
A diminutive, pacy player, and skilled with the ball at his feet, Mendes is far more of an attacking presence than a defensive one, and has struggled at times to provide adequate cover for Kylian Mbappé on the Parisians’ left flank. His crossing is also an asset, but in general the feeling is that 2022 has been an awkward year for the youngster, with his development for his club somewhat stunted by both injury and a slowness to adapt to the particular demands of Galtier’s tactics, and playing in a back four, rather than a back three, as he often did at previous junctures in his career.
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These recurring injuries are worrying for a player of whom much is expected in terms of movement on the pitch, and one has to wonder if this is potentially a trend. That said, Mendes has generally impressed for Portugal and there’s no reason to think his current downturn is anything more than a lack of familiarity with new teammates, a new manager, and a new system. Fitness and more time on the pitch should do Mendes a world of good in 2023, and it would be no surprise to see him rank quite a bit higher in this list come a year from now.
Eric Devin | GFFN