Manchester City defender Rico Lewis has confirmed he has no interest in leaving the club this summer.
Nottingham Forest have already struck a deal to sign City midfielder James McAtee and are reported to be chasing a separate agreement for 20-year-old Lewis, who bagged an assist in his side’s 4–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
After the game, Lewis fronted up to the press to confirm his desire to stay with City beyond the transfer window.
“For me, I’ve never, ever seen myself at a different club,” Lewis said. “I’ve always wanted to play for City. It’s my dream club, and like you see today, when I’m playing with the kind of players that I’m playing with, it brings out the best in me, so I’m so happy.
“Everyone wants assurance and security, but at the end of the day, it’s on me. It’s on me to perform. It’s on me to take the chances. If I take my own chances, I do it. If I don’t, then I have to work and get better.
“Last season I played more than the season before, this season I want to play more than last season, so it’s always the same goal, becoming an established player.”
Manager Pep Guardiola later confirmed that Lewis had already communicated this stance to the club and admitted he would be happy to keep the “extraordinary” right back.
“I think he is going to stay. I think,” Guardiola said of Lewis. “He told me that. But maybe tomorrow it changes.
“For example for the case with Phil [Foden], for Rico, for Nico O’Reilly, I have special sympathy because they were 16 or 17 years old when they arrived here and we were winning Premier Leagues.
“In his role he is an extraordinary player. But he is so small. If he was taller we’d say, ‘oh what a player.’ Today, I think he is going to stay but I don’t know what is going to happen.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘My Dream’—Rico Lewis Reacts to Man City Exit Links, Pep Guardiola Responds.