As Manchester City complete the signing of defender Vitor Reis, Oliver Hopkins of Opta Analyst looks at why Pep Guardiola has recruited the talented 19-year-old.
Sunday's 6-0 victory at Ipswich Town might have provided a reminder of Manchester City's quality, but there’s no escaping it: this season has been massively disappointing by their high standards.
They sit 12 points off the top of the Premier League table and their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages is still at risk.
Things can still obviously change from here, but it’s shaping up to be their poorest campaign since Pep Guardiola’s debut season in charge.
Guardiola’s current squad has achieved incredible success, but it’s now nearing the end of its natural cycle.
With an average age of 27 years and 167 days for starting line-ups in the league this season, Man City’s squad is the fifth-oldest in the competition.
A look at their squad's age profile shows a lot of players past their peak years are playing significant minutes.
Time to sign younger players
The club need to invest in new, young talent to replenish the squad and set themselves up for continued long-term success.
What better way to do that, then, by signing an extremely young and promising central defender like Vitor Reis in the January transfer window?
Palmeiras understandably wanted to keep the 19-year-old for the FIFA Club World Cup this summer, but Man City’s offer has been enough for the Brazilian club to part ways with their academy talent early.
City have also signed Abdukodir Khusanov, the 20-year-old Uzbekistan centre-back who plays for Ligue 1 side Lens, and have been linked with Omar Marmoush, also 20, of Eintracht Frankfurt and Egypt.
What will Reis bring to Guardiola’s squad?
Reis has quickly emerged as one of the most promising young defenders in Brazilian football.
A right-footed centre-back who can play at right-back as well, Reis is a product of Palmeiras’s esteemed academy, an institution that has recently produced prospects like Endrick (now at Real Madrid), Luis Guilherme (West Ham United) and Estevao Willian (set to join Chelsea on 1 July).
Perhaps what’s most impressive about Reis is how quickly he’s carved out a regular spot in Palmeiras’s first team.
Last year's Brazilian Serie A season was his first taste of senior club football, and although it took him until a third of the way through the campaign to make his debut (June 2024), once he started, he did not look back.
He went on to appear in 22 of Palmeiras’s final 30 matches of the 2024 season in all competitions, starting 20 of them.
To play that many matches at such a young age is in itself quite an achievement, and a surefire sign of Reis’s undeniable talent.
Only 49 players aged 18 or younger appeared in the Brazilian Serie A last season. Of those, just 13 made over 10 appearances, with Reis’s 1,457 minutes ranking third among teenagers, behind team-mate Estevao and Fluminense forward Kaua Elias.
Most minutes for teenagers in Serie A 2024
| Player | Club | Matches | Mins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estevao | Palmeiras | 31 | 2,114 |
| Kaua Elias | Fluminense | 30 | 1,465 |
| Vitor Reis | Palmeiras | 18 | 1,457 |
| Gabriel Carvalho | Internacional | 24 | 1,303 |
| Gustavo Nunes | Gremio | 20 | 1,235 |
Reis also boasts a distinguished international career at youth level; he captained Brazil at the 2023 FIFA U17 World Cup. This is not a normal 19-year-old that the Premier League champions have acquired.
How Reis compares with Premier League centre-backs
Talking to Sky Sports recently, South American football expert Tim Vickery described Reis as "physically nowhere near Premier League-ready." His slight, lean build will need bulking up.
Despite that, though, Reis’s height, spring and aggression make him extremely good in the air. He won 2.9 aerial duels per 90 in the Brazilian Serie A last season, a figure that would put him in the top 10 among Premier League defenders this campaign.
For context, Liverpool’s two hulking centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate have won 3.1 aerial duels per 90 this season, and the most active Man City defender in this metric is Nathan Ake (1.9).
Now, Palmeiras see a lot less of the ball (average 53.7 per cent) than a team like Man City (61.5 per cent), so any player on that team has a lot more opportunity to challenge for balls in the air.
But if we look at his record for winning aerial duels, Reis still comes out looking quite favourably. His success rate in the air of 66.2 per cent is better than any Man City defender (Josko Gvardiol is their best at 60.4 per cent).
Reis's ability to attack the ball in the air works well in the opposition’s box as well. Both of his goals at Palmeiras have come via headers, and given Guardiola has taken a liking in recent seasons to playing centre-backs across his entire back four, it’s perhaps not surprising Man City have identified someone they think they can bulk up into a capable physical presence.
What's he like with the ball?
On the ball, Reis has the fundamental technical proficiency that you’d expect from anyone linked with Man City.
For a start, he’s got experience of seeing a reasonable amount of the ball – his 43.7 successful passes per match was only bettered by one Palmeiras player last season, right-back Mayke.
Reis is technically proficient, too. His passing accuracy of 89.2 per cent actually led the way among all Palmeiras players in 2024, while that rate remains a healthy 81.5 per cent when he’s put under pressure.
But a deeper dig into his numbers suggest he’ll need to develop greater bravery on the ball if he’s to be really effective in Man City’s structure.
Reis made just 2.3 progressive passes per 90 last season, which was among the lowest rate of any Palmeiras player, and just 30 per cent of his attempted passes were played forward, ranking him almost absolute last among all Brazilian Serie A centre-backs.
Nor he is someone who carried the ball out of defence particularly regularly. But again, let’s reiterate. Reis has only just turned 19.
Similar path to Gabriel Jesus
All aspects of Reis's game are going to develop massively, including his courage in possession. His pathway could mirror that of Gabriel Jesus, who City also plucked from Palmeiras during the January transfer window back in 2017.
While not always in City’s first-choice XI, Jesus was still a core part of a side that won four Premier League titles, three League Cups and an FA Cup while he was in Manchester.
Palmeiras's success in nurturing talent, combined with Reis’s already significant experience for his age, underscores why Man City were determined to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Joining Man City should give Reis the opportunity to develop in one of football’s best coaching set-ups. While he’ll face challenges adapting to the physical demands and expectations of the Premier League, his potential is undeniable.
For City, securing Reis represents another step in building a new squad that is ready to dominate for years to come.
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