Manchester City are in pursuit of three trophies again and have most of the squad available at the moment – and it has led to a bit of a frustrating situation for Rico Lewis.
Pep Guardiola‘s side are on a tear at the moment and are still unbeaten in 2024 so far.
City have not lost since that 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park, and there is real momentum right now.
The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and John Stones have all been playing recently, after struggling with injuries earlier in the campaign.
That has meant that Rico Lewis – described earlier this season by Pep as one of the best players he’s ever trained – has rather moved into the shadows at the Etihad Stadium…
Rico Lewis’ game time has fallen off a cliff at Manchester City recently
2024 has been a bit of a struggle so far for Lewis.
The 19-year-old, who broke through to the first-team early last season, has only been afforded four appearances so far this calendar year, three of which have been starts.
He played a full 90 minutes against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup on January 7, before then playing a full game against Burnley in the Premier League on January 31.
He then played for 13 minutes in the 6-2 win over Luton Town on February 27. His last appearance for City came against FC Copenhagen on March 6, playing 90 minutes.
But that is it. Since playing against Burnley in the Premier League, Lewis has not played a single minute in the club’s subsequent seven games in the competition.
Most of his minutes this season have come in the Champions League. But with City now at the quarter-final stage, you would imagine his opportunities in the competition won’t be as plentiful.
Lewis harmed by returning players at Man City- and his struggles could continue
It was perhaps inevitable that Rico Lewis’ game time would really plummet once key players came back for Manchester City.
He is an extremely talented and versatile young player. But the ‘exceptional’ youngster is still obviously inexperienced, meaning Pep is going to lean on other players before him.
Mateo Kovacic and John Stones both being fit does not help him in terms of getting minutes in midfield alongside Rodri.
He’s then got captain Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji ahead of him in the pecking order to play at right-back.
City are now entering the business end of the season and Pep will be going as strong as he possibly can in every game. So it’s possible it could be a frustrating finish to the season for Lewis.
He just needs to make sure he is ready to go when called upon, as there will still be games where he gets rotated in and of course, injuries can happen at any time.