Pep Guardiola has always been obsessed with creating excellent central midfielders. It is possible that the 18-year-old Rico Lewis will become the next preeminent product of the Spaniard in this role.

Coach Pep Guardiola highly appreciates Rico Lewis. After the 18-year-old player performed excellently and was rated the highest by the experts among the Man City players in the 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich a few days ago, the strategist had words of praise. wings for him: “He does everything as simple as reaching into his bag to get something”. Pep insists that Rico Lewis is one of the smartest footballers he has ever known .

Pep is not the type of person who likes to give compliments to others. During his military career, the players he praised for his intelligence were counted on his fingers and all became legends of world football. Can list a few names like Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Philipp Lahm or David Silva… In an interview in the 2022/23 season, too impressed with the outstanding talent of Rico Lewis, Pep even called him “Little Philipp Lahm” .

Lahm was originally a defender, but was often encouraged by Pep Guardiola to push forward and squeeze in the middle of the stone as a central midfielder. With Rico Lewis, the Spanish strategist acted even more aggressively. He almost turned this right-back player into a true central midfielder. Pep made even Man City fans last season mistakenly believe that Rico Lewis was trained to be a “boss” in the midfield.

Certainly in the 2023/24 season, after the departure of Ilkay Gundogan, Rico Lewis will be used more by Pep Guardiola in the central midfield role. It feels like the Spanish strategist has prepared every move to make this 18-year-old player a mainstay of Man City in the not too distant future. This is evident in the fact that Pep repeatedly urged the leader of the Etihad Stadium team to “tie” Rico Lewis. Then a few days ago, Man City convinced their young talent to agree to sign a 5-year contract, with an automatic extension of 1 year.

In addition to his highly praised intelligence, Rico Lewis has other great qualities that make him a “treasure” in the eyes of his teacher Pep Guardiola. It was his maturity much more than his 18 years old, his excellent individual technique, his tactical sensibilities, his excellent reading of the game and very precise passes. Besides, Rico Lewis has very good physical strength. In particular, the young talent of Man City is stubborn, not bored with any opponent face to face, because he used to practice boxing for a very long time.

In the tactical systems that Pep Guardiola built since starting his military career until now, the central midfield position has always been devoted to him. Because in his opinion, it is the “link” that determines the success or failure of the home team in gaining control of the ball in the midfield, creating a premise for the ball phase. Under Pep’s hands, many excellent central midfielders have been admired by the world such as Sergio Busquets, Joshua Kimmich, Fernandinho, Rodri…. It is not excluded that Rico Lewis will become the next great invention of Pep with this role.

An extremely bright future is opening before Rico Lewis’s eyes!