High five as Lewis nets new contract
MANCHESTER CITY are to hand teenage starlet Rico Lewis a bumper new long-term deal.
The defender, 18, will be rewarded for his sensational first-team breakthrough this season with a five-fold pay rise.
Lewis’ weekly wages are expected to rocket from £5,000-a-week to £25,000 when he signs the five-year contract on the table.
That underlines what an impact the right-back is having during his rapid emergence for Pep Guardiola’s champions.
Manchester-born Lewis, who joined City at eight, has made 15 appearances this term including eight in the Premier League.
And the England Under-19s international also marked his full Champions League debut in November with a goal in the 3-1 victory over Sevilla, becoming the club’s youngest scorer in the competition.
Since then Lewis has continued to impress, often being preferred by Guardiola ahead of Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo, now of Bayern Munich.
Indeed, his continued selection appears to have contributed to Cancelo’s exit to the Bundesliga in the January transfer window.
Bayern have taken the Portuguese ace on loan until the end of the season with a view to making it a permanent £60million deal in the summer.
Yet Cancelo, 28, was deemed irreplaceable until Lewis’ arrival on the scene at the start of 2022-23.
The fact Guardiola gave his seal of approval to Cancelo’s departure is a measure of how highly he rates Lewis.
The Spaniard believes the academy graduate is perfect for the wing-back role that includes operating as a floating central midfielder in attack and is so crucial to the way he likes City to play.