The 17-year-old defender has already played in the Premier League and Champions League, and looks to have a big future at the Etihad Stadium.

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…

Getty ImagesWhere it all began

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."

AdvertisementGetty ImagesThe big break

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.

Getty ImagesHow's it going

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.

Getty ImagesBiggest strengths

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.