Rico Lewis: Man City's academy star could become the next Cancelo

Lewis hails from the Greater Manchester suburb of Bury, a town that has produced more England players for international tournaments than any other.

But unlike fellow Bury-born full-backs Gary and Phil Neville, he headed straight to Man City, and has followed the path from the academy all the way to the first team.

"It started with my friend getting me a trial when I was about seven," he told reporters. "Then they signed me at the start of Under-8s, and since then I've just been at City.

"I've obviously been a City fan since I was about five or six and my journey through the academy has been nothing but good. To come all the way through and get to this point, it's the dream."

Lewis has cited his family as a driving influence behind his career, ever since kicking a ball around his father's gym as a youngster.

“[My dad] was the main point that pushed me, he didn’t force me towards things but pushed me in directions to get myself out there," he told City's official website.

"My family saw me make my debut. They were in a box and I could see them, and being able to meet them after was like, 'I’ve worked hard for this and they’ve also worked hard for it', so they are proud of me and I am proud of that."

While he was captaining City to the Premier League's U18s title last season, Lewis also spent some time training with the first-team squad.

But it was on their pre-season tour to the United States in the summer of 2022 that he began to gain some recognition as he earned his first minutes in Guardiola's side.

He impressed with lively cameos against Club America and Bayern Munich, hitting the post after a driving run against the German champions.

And after allowing Zinchenko to leave for Arsenal in the summer and missing out on their preferred replacement in Cucurella, the field was open for back-ups to Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo to state their case.

City did sign Spanish full-back Sergio Gomez from Anderlecht, and also have fellow academy star Josh Wilson-Esbrand pushing for opportunities, but Lewis has still managed to make his presence felt.

He made his senior debut against Bournemouth in August and has had occasional minutes off the bench ever since, including in the Champions League win over Copenhagen.

He also looked comfortable as a starter in the recent prestigious friendly against Barcelona at Camp Nou.

Guardiola believes that the best way for his young players to develop is to be working around the first team, and he has shown patience with Lewis' predecessors such as Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.

Rule changes allowing five substitutions have allowed the City boss to give his youngsters more opportunities, while also giving his more established players time to rest on the regular occasions that they find themselves comfortably ahead in games.

Lewis is certainly making the most of those chances: "Rico showed me again that we can rely on him perfectly,” Guardiola said after his performance against Copenhagen.

With Walker expected to be out until the World Cup, opportunities for Lewis are even greater, and it would not be a surprise to see him make his first competitive start before the six-week break for Qatar 2022.

High quality full-backs are expected to do so much more than simply run up and down the wing these days, and Lewis is no different.

England currently has a group of exciting, young, attacking full-backs such as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea's Reece James, and Lewis is seen as being able to play a similar role.

He likes to get forward and supplement the attacking options, which is particularly important in a City team that so often spends the majority of matches with the ball in the opposition's half.

But under Guardiola, the full-back role is even more complex, with Cancelo and Walker having learned to step inside and act as an extra midfielder.

Lewis will have to show that he can learn that role too, though versatility is not something he is unaccustomed to. In his short career he has already played as both a right-back and left-back, as well as as a holding midfielder.

Clearly, Lewis is not the finished article and he knows he has to keep working at his game.

His overall understanding of what he is being taught and his decision-making will improve, both with experience and working more with his team-mates on the pitch.

Walker, for example, has always been someone to help young players integrate into the squad, and along with Cancelo, Lewis couldn't have better role models.

"You only see some of it on the pitch, coming into training every day it's a joke really how good they are," the teenager said about working with the first-team.

"It's more little things. We'll be doing sessions and if they can see I'm struggling or that I can do better, they just give me little things and they go a long way. And to get it off them is just amazing."

Lewis' calmness, creativity and versatility draw obvious comparisons to his Portuguese team-mate Cancelo.

"In a game, it's not like I can copy them because it's not realistic, so I focus on myself," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"But I definitely look at Cancelo because he plays in that full-back position where sometimes he moves into midfield as well, which is similar to what I do."

Lewis has also name-checked Walker, as well as former Barcelona star and one-time City transfer target Dani Alves as his influences growing up.

It's a good pair to choose, as they have arguably been the two most successful right-backs to have worked under Guardiola throughout his coaching career.

Patience is the key word for many academy players if they want to make the breakthrough at the Etihad.

Foden has been the poster boy for the success of City's system and was handled with care when many were demanding he be thrust into the first team.

Guardiola resisted those calls, and the Stockport-born forward has now made nearly 200 appearances for his boyhood club.

Opportunities, then, will come for Lewis, and he just needs to make sure he takes them.

City's full-backs are now long-established, but Walker will be 35 when he comes to the end of his contract in 2025, and Lewis has the chance to put himself firmly in the conversation to slot straight into the England star's boots when he eventually departs.