Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
So, what’s their relationship like now? “We don’t really have longwinded conversations that much, to be fair. It’s little bits of information when he sees I can do something better, and I can take it on board and try it out. He might shout but he’s not bothered if you get something wrong, as long as you’re trying to do the right things and you’re not trying to be safe.”
One area in which Lewis appears to be fearless is the dressing-room music scene. Surely, as a young buck still finding his way in a star-studded team, he’d never consider dictating the playlist? “A hundred per cent, I’d put my own songs on. I know some players in there would like it. Some might not, but that’s what music is about, isn’t it? Different interests.”
Strong words. But the Bury-born player tells us it’s actually the kit men who have appointed themselves as DJs. “It’s mainly house music,” says Lewis. “It’s not like it’s bad music, but I normally have my earphones in anyway, just listening to something myself.” He adds that rap is his preferred genre: “It’s about the flow of it: it’s upbeat and it gets your mood up.”
He's got a soft spot for City anthem Blue Moon too. “It’s amazing when you’re in the tunnel and you hear it starting,” he says. “I end up singing along. It’s another thing you dream of when you’re a kid: coming out to all the music and all the fans. You hear it on TV and then you hear it for real in the stadium.” And is it on his playlist? “No. A few Oasis songs, actually.”
Fair enough, and no one could blame Lewis for feeling pretty supersonic himself right now. Not least because he recently got to visit his old primary school, where he presented his former head teacher with his City shirt. “She’s a Bolton fan,” he says, smiling, “but I think she’s more of a City fan now.”
Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
So, what’s their relationship like now? “We don’t really have longwinded conversations that much, to be fair. It’s little bits of information when he sees I can do something better, and I can take it on board and try it out. He might shout but he’s not bothered if you get something wrong, as long as you’re trying to do the right things and you’re not trying to be safe.”
One area in which Lewis appears to be fearless is the dressing-room music scene. Surely, as a young buck still finding his way in a star-studded team, he’d never consider dictating the playlist? “A hundred per cent, I’d put my own songs on. I know some players in there would like it. Some might not, but that’s what music is about, isn’t it? Different interests.”
Strong words. But the Bury-born player tells us it’s actually the kit men who have appointed themselves as DJs. “It’s mainly house music,” says Lewis. “It’s not like it’s bad music, but I normally have my earphones in anyway, just listening to something myself.” He adds that rap is his preferred genre: “It’s about the flow of it: it’s upbeat and it gets your mood up.”
He's got a soft spot for City anthem Blue Moon too. “It’s amazing when you’re in the tunnel and you hear it starting,” he says. “I end up singing along. It’s another thing you dream of when you’re a kid: coming out to all the music and all the fans. You hear it on TV and then you hear it for real in the stadium.” And is it on his playlist? “No. A few Oasis songs, actually.”
Fair enough, and no one could blame Lewis for feeling pretty supersonic himself right now. Not least because he recently got to visit his old primary school, where he presented his former head teacher with his City shirt. “She’s a Bolton fan,” he says, smiling, “but I think she’s more of a City fan now.”
Rico Lewis wishes he could be a schoolboy again. It’s not what you necessarily expect to hear from a local lad who became a Manchester City first-teamer this season, but here it is in black and white: “I miss it so much, even though it wasn’t that long ago. I would do anything to go back for a week or something.”
It definitely wasn’t that long ago: the full-back is only 18. But it was the mindset of a guy who still yearns for the classroom, who clearly wants to learn, that convinced Pep Guardiola to throw Lewis in for his full debut at the age of 17 years and 346 days last November. In the Champions League. And – just for good measure – he scored.
“It’s probably one of the best days I’ll ever have in my life,” says Lewis, whose equaliser sparked a 3-1 defeat of Sevilla. “The whole day: for me to start the game, get the chance to score the goal, then speaking to all my mates, all my family members – they were so happy. And the fact that they were happy just made me happy!”
Taking particular pleasure from the experience will have been his dad, Rick Lewis, a former national champion in the combat sport Muay Thai. Rick would take Rico down to the gym he owns in north Manchester, and the footballer acknowledges the debt he owes to those boxing origins. “It was just amazing to be in the environment that I was in,” he says. “It’s helped me with fitness, moving about quickly, balance and agility – stuff like that. And one of the main things is the discipline: you can’t let your guard slip once or it will be over. That’s flowed into how I try and put myself into every session and every game here.”
After that Champions League bow against Sevilla, Guardiola was glowing in his praise for the youngster: “He’s a fantastic player, so intelligent. He understands everything.” The Spaniard should know: Lewis says he first remembers meeting the manager after a possession drill with the Under-10s.
