Manchester City fans were particularly for Oscar Bobb ahead of the 2024/25 – and that excitement now appears to have transferred across to Rico Lewis.
Bobb was a standout performer for City in pre-season, mesmerising against the likes of Celtic, AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea.
He then shone in the Community Shield against Manchester United.
But Bobb then suffered an untimely leg injury just days before the start of the new season, and he will now be out until around the end of the year.
But Manchester City fans have latched onto another of the club’s top prospects.
Like Bobb, Rico Lewis wowed against United. He then followed that performance up with a top display against Chelsea, leading to extremely high praise from Pep Guardiola.
Lewis is surely set for greater involvement this term, and there is word this morning about how Pep sees the teenager.
Rico Lewis is Pep Guardiola’s next Phillip Lahm who can be Man City regular
Lewis made his City debut at the start of the 2022/23 season, and really started to impress midway through that campaign.
His rise to prominence was thought to have been a reason for Joao Cancelo’s frustrations and ultimate falling out with the manager.
Lewis deserved his opportunities though, and in 2023/24 he again impressed when called upon.
This season, some City fans believe that £25,000-a-week ace Lewis should be in line for more game time, with Kyle Walker now approaching his mid-thirties.
Walker is still operating at a fairly high level, but he was arguably not as good in 2023/24 as he was during the Treble-winning season.
A report from The Athletic does offer those City fans some hope. Apparently, Pep sees Lewis as his ‘mini Philipp Lahm’, and someone who can become a regular in the City starting XI.
German legend Lahm is widely regarded as one of the greatest full-backs of all-time, and Lewis is arguably similar to him in terms of stature, technical ability and versatility.
Lewis must play more in 2024/25
- READ MORE: Who is Rico Lewis? The Man City prodigy who is one of the best Pep Guardiola has ever trained
Lewis has pretty much always impressed when he has taken to the field in a City shirt.
The youngster has massive potential, but is already operating at a very exciting level.
You can see how much he has benefitted from training with world-class players for such a long time now. It is perhaps similar to when Phil Foden was coming through – now, he is a world-class player himself and City will hope Lewis will go the same way.
Lewis has been showing that he could now become a regular starter for City. Pep has already admitted he has questioned why he hasn’t played Lewis more.
He wants to play in midfield, but minutes there will be tricky to come by. But at right-back, and him inverting into midfield, there could be a real chance.
Guardiola’s praise for him at the weekend was fantastic to hear and one hopes the manager will start increasing his workload from here on in.
