Manchester City's under-18 coach Ben Wilkinson has reiterated his faith in Rico Lewis.

The youngster has become a fixture of manager Pep Guardidola's City team in recent weeks.

Lewis first began to displace the likes of Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo in the team after the World Cup.

"I believed Rico could play for our first team," stated Wilkinson, per the Manchester Evening News.

"We probably didn't expect him to rise to the level he has [in a year]," he added.

"I always looked at Rico and believed he was someone who could play for our first team. In terms of his talent and also the type of player he is, he fits really well with the way the manager plays. You can see that a long way out in my opinion. I always believed he had a real good chance because he's such a good player and is tactically so good.

"I did feel he had a better than most chance of getting through. Whether you thought he'd get through so quickly and play so many games in quick succession and earn the level of trust that he's got from the manager, I think that would have been hard to predict.

"Knowing the boy, what he's got in him, there's a level of confidence that it certainly wouldn't be for a lack of trying or understanding or ability. He's got all of those in abundance. I'm not completely surprised, I did believe he could play for the first team. But I'm a little bit surprised by the amount of game time he's had."