Manchester City signs Vitor Reis: Can he fix City's defensive struggles?

Manchester City have acquired the signing of talented Brazilian defender Vitor Reis from Brazilian outfit Palmeiras.

Acknowledged as one of the most important emerging talents across the world, 19-year-old Reis has been heavily linked to Arsenal and Chelsea on past occasions.

However, Manchester City have roped him in for a reported fee of €35 million, making the player the most expensive Brazilian center-back ever.

Teenage defender Vitor Reis has joined @ManCity from Palmeiras 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/8Kz7PpYX4Q

— Premier League (@premierleague) January 21, 2025

Although Palmeiras insisted on keeping him until the end of the 2025 Club World Cup, City's football director Hugo Viana played a key role in bringing the player immediately to Etihad.

After signing 22-year-old defender Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens, City management believes that Vitor Reis is the missing piece of the puzzle to fix their defensive calamities.

How can Vitor Reis fit himself in City's system under the watch of Pep Guardiola? Sportz Point finds it out.

Is Reis the man to fix City's defensive struggle?

Vitor Reis, who arrives at Etihad having only played 22 games for Palmeiras, is highly unlikely to bring a sudden revamping of Manchester City's defence.

However, the player is said to have "calmness on the ball, defensive versatility, and leadership potential". According to a pundit from the local network SporTV, Reis seems to have "60 years of experience in football"

Palmeiras' U-20 coach Lucas Andrade told the following to BBC Sport:

I believe he will have no trouble adapting to the City system because here in the youth teams he was always exposed to playing under risk, having to be involved in the build-up play while also defending efficiently, even in one-on-one situations,

City work with small squads, so he could gain minutes and be very useful in the season right from the start due to all the maturity and readiness he has to play.

Manchester City has been facing a tumultuous season with a rough phase of consecutive defeats, and they are gradually getting back at it.

However, the exclusion of many players due to long-term injuries has significantly affected Pep Guardiola's tactical executions, as he insisted on signing Vitor Reis along with Khusanov.

PEP 💬 (On our new signings) Welcome to the City family. Really pleased. They're young players so they come for many years. Different types. Khusanov played here in France. [He has] Extraordinary physicality and hopefully he can learn English as soon as possible. Reis is a young… pic.twitter.com/DINAHMB8o4

— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 21, 2025

Vitor Reis is young and has room to improve himself under the watch of Pep Guardiola at such a young age in his career. Although he has played only 22 games under the senior Palmeiras side, he has the experience of playing in last season's Copa Libertadores, maintaining a significant role in the three-man backline system of Palmeiras.

Under the watch of different coaches in the different youth ranks of Palmeiras, Reis showed his leadership ability along with his ability to fit in the full-back roles on both sides and in a four-man backline as well.

This gives him a unique feature to comply with different tactical shifts, which is visibly useful under Pep Guardiola's tactical game plans.

However, this is not only about featuring him in the first team but also commencing the rebuild at the club. Along with Khusanov, Reis can be a serious contender to pair up with veterans such as Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, and youngsters such as Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol. 

🇧🇷 Vitor Reis & Khusanov 🇺🇿 pic.twitter.com/YCdHqQrCPf

— Manchester City (@ManCityPT) January 21, 2025

Tactical benefits

The right-footed youngster plays more centrally in the defence, but he also adapts well on both sides. Vitor Reis possesses all the qualities of a solid modern-day defender, such as technical ability, clean tackling, anticipation, interception, good ball-carrying ability, passing excellence with both legs, and dominance in aerial duels.

One particular area where Vitor Reis shines defensively is in his ability in 1v1’s out in wide areas. Reis stays low, focused, and patient in 1v1’s. In terms of aerial duels, Reis won 2.9 aerial duels per 90 minutes in the Brazilian Serie A last season, a figure that would place him in the top 10 among Premier League defenders this campaign.

Reis also possesses a sound sense of anticipation and is continuously alert in the game, much like legendary Brazilian CB Thiago Silva, who excelled specifically in game-reading.

Sampaio, the man behind Palmeiras' academy revolution and one of the most respected executives in Brazilian football, recalled the following to BBC Sport:

Technique, speed, courage, you name it. Tactically, he's a leader, understands the game like few others. And his mental strength is a joke. The kid is complete.

According to Opta Analyst Oliver Hopkins, Reis has the "fundamental technical proficiency" on the ball to adapt quickly to Pep Guardiola's dimensional football.

Hopkins further explores that the 89.2% passing accuracy of Reis is the highest amongst Palmeiras players in 2024, while that rate is a solid 81.5% under pressure.

However, some stats prove that he needs to "develop greater bravery on the ball" to be truly effective within Manchester City's structure. 

Vitor Reis to Man City ✅

But who is he?

◾️Regular starter for Palmeiras despite being just 19
◾️Excellent in the air
◾️Needs to develop bravery in possession

City's squad is the fifth oldest in the league. As they begin their rebuild, we profile their latest signing 📊👇

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 21, 2025

Hopkins shows that Reis made just 2.3 progressive passes per 90 last season, which was among the lowest rates of any Palmeiras player, and just 30% of his attempted passes were played forward, ranking him almost last among all Brazilian Serie A center-backs.

How will Reis help in building City's future?

Signing Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov might be a direct response to their recent run of unexpected results, but both these signings mark the flagship of Man City's long-term squad rebuild plans. 

Now Manchester City has four U-20 defenders in the squad, having a perfect contingent to develop for the future: Abdukodir Khusanov (20 y/o), Vitor Reis (19 y/o), Rico Lewis (19 y/o) and Jahmai Simpson Pusey (19 y/o).

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🔵 | The @ManCity 𝐔𝟐𝟑 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋

🇧🇷 Vitor Reis (18, CB)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (19, CB)

🇺🇿 Abdukodir Khusanov (20, CB)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rico Lewis (20, RB)

🇭🇷 Josko Gvardiol (22, CB/LB)

5 Top Defenders for the next 10 years 🤩 pic.twitter.com/EsRyPTeVSy

— Rising Stars XI (@RisingStarXI) January 14, 2025

The rebuild will take a significant amount of time, but under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, the players have a unique opportunity to improve and step up as successors to the veteran City defenders. 

With these two signings confirmed during the ongoing January 2025 transfer window, it will hopefully fill the gaps that Pep Guardiola has been trying to address.