Rico Lewis shuts down Nottingham Forest rumours after Manchester City’s season opener | OneFootball

After a fair bit of disappointment for Manchester City fans in a problematic 2024/25 Premier League campaign, manager Pep Guardiola’s first-team rebuild has been handled with great speed this summer given the FIFA Club World Cup involvement, already seeing the benefits and talents of new arrivals.

In many ways, the opening day of the new season could not have gone better, securing a comprehensive 0-4 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, with a brace for Erling Haaland and further efforts from Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki.

City were largely untroubled across the 90 minutes and for those fans who like a flutter and had already made their online football betting choices, a pretty comfortable win was always going to be the likely outcome here.

With the transfer window open for another two weeks, it seems that business may not be done but given all the speculation on the rumour mill right now about youngster Rico Lewis, the 20-year-old threw a spanner in those works as he spoke after the game.

The City Football Academy graduate stated that he was living his own dream by representing the club, and it seems that he has no interest whatsoever in entertaining the interest that Nottingham Forest are supposedly showing in him.

Having started the game ahead of Matheus Nunes at right-back, Rico Lewis put in an assured display and helped himself to an assist for Erling Haaland’s 34th minute opener. And it seems that his only focus for the remainder of the campaign is making himself a regular starter. If there was any truth in Forest’s claimed £30 million interest, it very much looks like it will not come to fruition.

Stating that he had “never ever” seen himself at another club, his only focus has been on wanting “to play for City” as it has always been his “dream club”, and he knows that playing alongside the quality and calibre of player in the squad ensures it also brings the best form out of him, pointing to his Wolves showing as proof.

Guardiola has used Lewis well since he first made his first-team breakthrough, and the youngster already boasts 68 starts to his name across all competitions. Each campaign has seen him feature more and his appearance levels are growing, and although he is still on a natural progression, the clubs’s head coach has been honest enough to admit there is still some uncertainty surrounding how much he may be utilised given other options.

Whilst uncertainty has factored into Nottingham Forest’s interest, and he appreciates he has to continue impressing when he does get a first team call, knowing ultimately he can only achieve his aim of being an established player by performing remains his only focus and it does not appear he is yet ready to take an easier option when it comes to regular minutes.