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

When a team as well-run as Manchester City allow a player with the qualities of Oleksandr Zinchenko to leave the club, you just know that it's all part of the wider plan. Replacements will be, or have already been, found.

The obvious alternative is to recruit a replacement, but that comes with risks. How will they settle in? Do they fit the system? Or, as was the case in the summer of 2022, will the deal get over the line at all?

That was the case with Marc Cucurella, who many presumed would be a City player by the start of the 2022-23 campaign, only for the Premier League champions to baulk at Brighton's demands as Cucurella instead joined Chelsea.

There was no panic at City, though. They knew that gap in the squad could be filled by pursuing other avenues, including their uber-talented academy system.

That has led to Rico Lewis, their 17-year-old England youth international, making his way into Pep Guardiola's plans, and the early signs are good that he will remain there for a good while longer.

But who is City's latest teenage prodigy? NXGN takes a closer look...