I have made up my mind about my Man City future and everyone is aware of it

I have made up my mind about my Man City future and everyone is aware of it

Rico Lewis is one of the senior members of the Manchester City squad on tour this summer – but he’s still finding his feet in Pep Guardiola’s side and is calm over his prospects of playing time. He spoke to UK reporters from the City pre-season camp in Raleigh, North Carolina.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – MAY 26: Rico Lewis of Manchester City is lifted by Erling Haaland as he celebrates during the Manchester City trophy parade on May 26, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

“You have to make a decision about what kind of player you want to be,” admits Rico Lewis, who is at something of a crossroads in his Manchester City career this summer.

 

It feels like Lewis has been around forever, given how quickly and seamlessly he broke into the team. But it’s easy to forget that the defender is still only 19 years old, the baby of the squad with so many years at the top ahead of him.

 

Yet he bats off difficult questions about his status in the squad in the same way he bounces off physical midfielders, and in the same nonchalant manner that has characterised his meteoric rise in the last two seasons. If he’s under any pressure, he doesn’t show it.

 

Back in the USA 24 months on from the breakout tour that saw him convince Pep Guardiola of his raw quality, Lewis is back stateside this year but with a different point to prove.

 

Having played such an important role in his debut campaign to help Manchester City win the treble, last season was more difficult. Of just 16 appearances, in the Premier League, he started only eight, split across four different positions.

 

Now he needs to show Guardiola what he can do all over again this summer, falling down the pecking order in his second season. There have even been some suggestions, externally at least, that Lewis should leave City to get regular football.

 

But there won’t be any drastic changes in his approach, and certainly no thoughts to a transfer. Lewis has got this far being himself and trusting his own ability. He’s not in the mood for stopping now.

 

“I’m 100 per cent in the right place,” he tells UK reporters in North Carolina ahead of City’s opening friendly of the summer. “I’ve got more than enough time to get to the point where I want to be in terms of being a leader or starting most of the games.

 

 

“To be honest I need to continue what I’m doing. The main thing is to be patient and wait for the chances to come. They might not come often but when they do come you need to take them. The manager doesn’t just not play you for no reason, if he sees you doing well and benefitting the team, he’ll play you.

 

“I need to do what I can do and play as well as I can. I don’t need to do anything amazing or special. Just stick to the basics I’ve always done and make sure I’m fit for every game.”

 

Lewis has a decision to make this summer over what kind of player he wants to be, but in truth he has already made up his mind. Breaking into the team as a right-back, inverting into midfield, he got a handful of games last term as a more traditional midfielder.

 

“In my head I want to be more of a number eight,” he says, which tracks with similar comments during the season. Even his time out of the team – and the significant competition in midfield – has not changed his opinion.

 

“I want to be a bit more attacking. I enjoyed doing both sides, going forward and starting off a bit higher. I think in that team you can take so much from every position.”

 

Lewis is one of the most senior players on tour this summer, with the majority of first-teamers still on holiday after the Euros. He jokes that it’s up to him to integrate the academy players and the handful of big names, having spent more time with the youngsters on tour over the years than the likes of Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.

 

He has played with Nico O’Reilly and Jadel Katongo since he was six years old, so the concept of academy players looking up to him – when some are older than him and others are his close friends – is a strange one he hasn’t quite got his head around. But ask any youngster in the youth team, and Lewis’ path is one they all want to emulate.

 

 

The teenager’s advice to them is the same as he’s following himself: don’t do anything special.

 

“The only thing they need to do, is like I said about me, don’t do anything special, do what you do best,” he explains. “If that’s scoring a goal, it’s scoring a goal. If it’s keeping the ball out, it’s keeping the ball out. It’s the only thing as a young player, you want to impress so much that you might then make mistakes.”

 

Lewis says he cannot watch football for fun these days – there is too much tactical information swirling around his head for him to enjoy it. He avoided the early stages of Euros over the summer while on holiday, despite making his senior England debut last season, and spurned the chance to go out and watch the final at a fan zone in Manchester with friends.

 

Probably for the best, given he is a full international and a two-time Premier League winner. Plus, he jokes that he didn’t fancy getting covered in beer when friend Cole Palmer netted an equaliser in Berlin.

 

These are the things he must think about having been catapulted into elite football in his formative teenage years. Instead, he stayed at home, on his own, dogsitting his two dogs.

 

“I’d always watch it from a tactical point of view, where you see little things,” he says. “If you go out and watch you just [pay attention to] if your team score or concede but if you watch from a tactical perspective, it’s not the same. When youre getting all this information from the manager and older players it makes you think about everything differently.

 

“Tactically I know so much more over the last two years. Obviously I don’t know everything but I know so much more about myself in different positions. And also teammates in different positions, knowing subconsciously that if I’m here, he’s going to be there and what the whole team is going to be doing in a certain situation.

 

“It’s coming more naturally. You’ve got one of the best managers constantly feeding information and it’ll be on the minor details. Those little ones add up and become so much. It’s hard not to progress.”

 

For all the talk of Lewis struggling for games last year, he’s quick to remind people that he passed 50 appearances for City and has an impressive collection of medals to his name – “When you take a step back and look at it like that it’s amazing to even be part of the team.”

 

As he says, he has plenty of time – and the future could be bright (blue) for City’s midfield.

 

“I spoke to Phil [Foden] about this before,” he offers. “Phil was saying how amazing it’ll be in five or six years when we’re all the older ones in the group. Oscar [Bobb] as well. And then the players who come in as well. It’s exciting to look forward to but we don’t want to be that old yet!”

 

Lewis has four or five games to get ahead of the competition in midfield this summer before the big guns return, backing up his talk of playing permanently as a number eight.

 

But he’s willing to bide his time to get the games he wants in the middle of the park. And he certainly won’t do anything special to try and force the issue.