Rico Lewis makes ‘amazing’ U-turn after Man City deal agreed
Rico Lewis has made an “amazing” Manchester City U-turn after a deal has been agreed at the Etihad Stadium.
Nottingham Forest have been linked with Lewis after signing fellow Man City academy product James McAtee this month.
Forest were ready to double the 20-year-old’s wages if he were to make the move to the City Ground this summer.
However, the England international started for Pep Guardiola’s side in their opening-day victory over Wolves and the defeat against Tottenham.
After the game against Wolves, Lewis admitted he wants to remain with Man City, referring to them as his “dream club”.
Rico Lewis makes Man City exit decision
This article contains exclusive comment from Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser to Man City.
In a surprising turn of events, Lewis is now close to agreeing a new five-year contract at the Etihad.
The right-back has made 96 appearances for Man City since making his debut in August 2022, registering five goals and 10 assists.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “It’s almost an amazing turnaround in quite a short period.
“If you’d have looked at it a couple of weeks ago, we know that Forest were certainly bidding. I don’t think they were that far away from hitting City’s price. The information that I had was that actually City would be prepared to let the player go.
“And then Saturday comes, he starts at Wolves, which for some people was a bit of a shock because I think Nunes was expected to start against his former club.
“He starts the game, plays well, sets up the first goal, and then says the right things in the mixed zone afterwards. The sorts of things that he said were kind of the classic how to impress Pep type things.
“I’m not saying that triggered it, obviously the contract negotiation had been on the table for a while, but it wasn’t then a surprise when it all unfolds that actually he’s not leaving.
“He’s actually signed a five-year contract.”
Manuel Akanji could reject Man City exit offer
In terms of other transfer activity, Football Insider revealed on 22 August Manuel Akanji could reject a move to Galatasaray as he would prefer to remain part of Guardiola’s squad.
This comes after the 30-year-old defender disputed claims from Fabrizio Romano a deal was close to being agreed for his transfer, throwing his situation into uncertainty.
The Switzerland international has made 136 appearances for Man City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
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