Rico Lewis could follow Phil Foden blueprint to find his future Man City position

Only last season was Phil Foden trusted with playing in midfield in Pep Guardiola's complex system. Even then, Foden only played centrally in cup games or towards the end of the campaign.

After finding himself behind Jack Grealish and Bernardo SIlva on the wings, Foden was forced to work on the training ground to get back in the side, and it was midfield that gave him more opportunities. It paid off as in the Champions League final he replaced Kevin De Bruyne in the first half and excelled through the middle.

At the same time, Rico Lewis was finding his feet in the first team, starting as a right-back, inverting into midfield as the season went on, and even playing as a definitive midfielder in the final handful of games.

During pre-season, Lewis' journey further forward continued as he played as a box-to-box number eight against Bayern Munich, while Foden also continued his evolution to a central midfield player himself. As Lewis plots his City future, Foden's blueprint could be the one to follow.

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Foden was always earmarked for a midfield role - just like the recently-retired David Silva - but Guardiola insisted he wasn't ready for the tactical demands of a central player in his system. So Foden got used to the system as a winger, who could focus on attacking without the defensive responsibilities of a midfielder.

It worked - and will still work - but as Foden gets older he is taking more of those tactical observations on board and is a new midfield option in a midfield department that is undergoing something of an overhaul.

It seems that Lewis is being earmarked as a potential option in midfield given his encouraging