The left-back has scored three goals and set up another three in 11 games this season
Nuno Mendes of Aris Saint-Germain in action. PHOTO: REUTERS
PARIS:
He doesn’t garner many of the headlines among Paris Saint-Germain’s plethora of stars, but Nuno Mendes has been so impressive on the left wing for the European champions that he can now claim to be the best full-back in the world.
“I see myself as a good full-back, but I don’t like to say I’m the best,” the 23-year-old Portugal international told AFP in an interview at the club’s training ground just outside the French capital.
Left-back Mendes has scored three goals and set up three more in 11 matches this season, including a goal and an assist in last week’s 7-2 Champions League win at Bayer Leverkusen and a stunning run to set up Senny Mayulu for the equalizer in Barcelona’s 2-1 defeat.
Perhaps the only other full-back on Mendes’ level right now is Moroccan Achraf Hakimi, who occupies the right-back position in Luis Enrique’s PSG side.
“Achraf and I are in good shape but it’s a team effort and we all know how quickly things can change in football,” Mendes said of his and his team’s recent success.
PSG won the Champions League for the first time in their history last season and are top of the European standings three games into this season.
They are also top of Ligue 1 ahead of a trip to Lorient in midweek, having just welcomed Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele back into the squad following a hamstring injury.
“I love playing here,” Mendes said of being part of an exciting young squad in which Dembele is the biggest star having recently won the Ballon d’Or thanks to his prolific form last season.
“I’m very happy for Usman,” added the full-back, who insists collective success is more important than any dreams he may have of winning the sport’s most prestigious individual award.
Impeccable
PSG’s current success has followed a change of approach by the Qatari-owned club’s hierarchy, with the departures of superstar forwards Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar between 2023 and 2024 and a focus on signing hungry young players with everything to prove.
Mendes was just 19 when he arrived in Paris at the start of the 2021/22 season, initially on loan from Sporting, with whom he had won the Portuguese title the previous season under Ruben Amorim.
The move was made permanent in 2022 for 40 million euros ($46.5 million) and Mendes is now closing in on 150 appearances for the Parisians.
Mendes gives Luis Enrique, who arrived as manager in 2023, huge credit for helping him become such an attacking threat.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t very strong defensively. I knew how to attack with pace. Luis Enrique picked it up and really helped me defensively, which means now I’m better at both,” said Mendes, who started playing on the left wing in Sporting’s youth system.
“I try to find a balance when it comes to attacking, I rest when I need to. The coach is doing a great job and not just for me.
“Flexibility is something that Luis Enrique brought us and we will always keep that, even if he leaves or we leave.”
If Mendes benefits from Luis Enrique’s coaching, Portugal benefit from having the player in their side as they build towards next year’s World Cup – a win from two games away to Ireland and at home to Armenia next month will see them through to the finals.
“I still have a lot to learn, but I can’t say I have any real flaws at the moment or that there are things I’m doing badly,” says Mendes, who set up a goal for Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal’s recent draw with Hungary in Lisbon.
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