City are prepared to let Rico Lewis leave the club this summer, with Nottingham Forest among several Premier League sides showing interest in the academy graduate.
According to TEAMtalk, City would not stand in Lewis’s way should the 21-year-old decide his future lies elsewhere, with the club placing a valuation of around £30m on him.
Bournemouth and Fulham have also made checks on his availability, while Everton could enter the picture too as they continue their own search for a new right-back.
Lewis made just four Premier League starts last season as Matheus Nunes established himself in the role, and there is understood to be little expectation inside the club that Enzo Maresca’s arrival will change that pecking order significantly.
The Forest connection runs deeper than simple interest. Lewis’s name was reportedly raised during City’s negotiations with Forest over Elliot Anderson’s British-record £116m move to the Etihad, with Forest said to be keeping a close eye on his situation as a result.
It’s a sharp turn for a player who signed a five-year contract extension to 2030 not long ago, having once described City as meaning “everything” to him.
With sporting director Hugo Viana continuing to reshape the squad around Maresca, Lewis now finds himself among several fringe players whose futures look set to be resolved before the window closes.
