Manchester City defender expresses first-team desire under Enzo Maresca after successful La Liga loan | OneFootball

Manchester City centre-back Vitor Reis has returned to the Etihad Stadium following a season-long loan at Girona and is eyeing a place in Enzo Maresca’s ranks for the 2026-27 campaign, speaking openly about his development and his ambitions at the club in a new interview.

The 20-year-old arrived at Manchester City from Palmeiras in January 2025 and was immediately sent on loan to Girona in the Spanish top flight, with the club identifying a season of regular competition in La Liga as the most effective pathway for a defender of enormous potential who needed consistent first-team minutes to accelerate his development at the highest level.

Reis returns to the Etihad Stadium having experienced the full range of what Spanish football has to offer, with Girona’s campaign taking him to venues and opponents across one of European football’s most technically demanding leagues – an experience the young Brazilian believes has transformed him as a player in ways that a first season of squad involvement at City alone could not have provided.

The centre-back now returns at a moment of genuine opportunity, with Enzo Maresca’s arrival as manager opening a new chapter at the Etihad Stadium in which the hierarchy of the squad is yet to be fully established and players across every position are being assessed on their merits ahead of the new season.

Director of football Hugo Viana has overseen a summer of considerable change at the club, but the pathway Reis travels back along from Girona is one that has been planned from the outset of his time at Manchester City rather than a reactive response to any shift in circumstances.

Reis: “My expectations of working with Maresca are very high”

As reported by ESPN Brasil and relayed by Sport Witness, Reis was candid and enthusiastic about the prospect of working under a manager whose reputation and tactical knowledge clearly resonates with the young defender.

“Maresca is a great coach with a lot of football knowledge,” said Reis. “My expectations of working with him are very high.”

Reflecting on the quality within Manchester City’s existing squad and the senior figures who have shaped his thinking since his arrival, Reis paid particular tribute to two players whose influence has gone beyond the purely tactical: “City have a great squad and excellent players. I learned a lot during my first spell there, especially from Ruben Dias, who encourages me a lot, and from Haaland himself, who is one of the best strikers in world football.”

On the season at Girona and the quality of the opponents it placed in front of him on a weekly basis, the centre-back was clear about why the experience has been so formative: “It helped me a lot because I was able to play regularly in a very strong and competitive league. Playing consistently makes a huge difference, and I felt I improved a lot during the season at Girona. Facing great players such as Vinicius Junior, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham demands maximum concentration.”

Reis concluded by offering a thoughtful comparison between the two leagues he has now experienced at senior level, demonstrating a football intelligence and maturity that belies his age: “The Premier League demands more strength and intensity, while La Liga focuses more on technique and tactics. They are competitions with different styles, but without doubt they are among the strongest leagues in the world.”

What does Reis’s return mean for Man City’s defensive plans?

The directness with which Reis has spoken about his desire to earn a place in Maresca’s squad reflects the confidence of a young defender who returns from Girona with the kind of seasoned perspective that only a full season of top-level competition can provide, and who has spent that time facing opponents of the highest calibre rather than learning his craft in the lower reaches of a less demanding league.

Maresca’s plans for the defensive unit at the Etihad Stadium remain to be fully clarified, with the futures of several centre-backs still subject to ongoing assessment as the window progresses and the wider rebuild continues to take shape around the Italian’s specific requirements for the season ahead.

Reis’s respect for Dias as both a player and a mentor carries a practical significance beyond its personal warmth, with the opportunity to develop alongside one of the Premier League’s most accomplished defensive leaders representing an environment that few young centre-backs of his generation have access to at such an early stage of their career.

Whether Reis earns the regular involvement under Maresca that his loan year at Girona has clearly primed him for, or whether the depth of options in City’s defensive unit necessitates another temporary move to continue his development, will become clearer as pre-season progresses – but the 20-year-old returns to the Etihad Stadium with his ambition, his perspective and his confidence markedly sharpened by a season that he clearly regards as one of the most important of his young life.