Lewis has failed to get regular minutes under his belt for Manchester City in recent seasons, playing a bit-part role under Pep Guardiola in the Catalan's final season at the Etihad Stadium before Enzo Maresca's arrival as first-team manager.

Maresca is understood to share a strong relationship with Lewis, who broke into City's senior squad under Guardiola in the club's historic 2022/23 treble winning season.

Since he lost his regular starting berth at boyhood club, there has been plenty of discourse among Manchester City fans on the future of Lewis.

The 21-year-old attracted strong interest from Nottingham Forest last summer and was understood to be open to the move, where he would have linked up with fellow Manchester City academy graduate James McAtee.

However, City handed Lewis a fresh, long-term contract till the summer of 2030 as they moved to secure the future of one of the best, most versatile players the academy has produced under their Abu Dhabi ownership.

Lewis enjoyed a strong pre-season camp in east Asia and started Manchester City's opening day Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.

However, the defender was far from his best against Oliver Glasner and co - and minutes have since been restricted to cup competitions for the England international.

A two-time Premier League winner, Lewis has enjoyed remarkable success in his young career, starring in Manchester City's treble season and subsequent 2023/24 Premier League winning campaign.

As versatile as he can be, a criticism of Lewis during his formative tutelage under Guardiola can be that he failed to make a particular position his own, instead often filling in across left-back, central midfield and right-back.

For all the credit that someone of Lewis' calibre earns by playing out of position, it has perhaps proved detrimental to his development that I'm writing this article about him and I'm unsure of whether he should be deemed a central midfielder or a defender, as such.

In an unexpected piece of news for the Manchester City faithful, Lewis has been added to England's squad ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Nations League fixture against Czechia.

The Three Lions made reparations for their 3-2 defeat to world champions Spain on home soil by putting Croatia to the sword in a 7-0 rout over the weekend.

It remains to be seen whether Lewis will get any meaningful action under his belt, with Phil Foden surely taking note of his standing in Thomas Tuchel's pecking order as well.