Pep Guardiola admits Man City star may leave despite starring in opening day win

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted Rico Lewis could yet leave the club before the end of the summer transfer window. Lewis started Saturday's win at Wolves and set up Erling Haaland's opener, but has been on the radar of Nottingham Forest.

Forest have already signed one player from City this summer, signing James McAtee in a deal worth £30m. Lewis is expected to cost them a little more if he follows suit, and Guardiola wouldn't rule that out.

"I think he is going to stay. I think," Guardiola said after the 4-0 victory at Molineux. "He told me that. But maybe tomorrow it changes.

"For example for the case with Phil [Foden], for Rico, for Nico O’Reilly, I have special sympathy because they were 16 or 17 years old when they arrived here and we were winning Premier Leagues. In his role he is an extraordinary player.

"But he is so small. If he was taller we’d say, 'oh what a player'. Today, I think he is going to stay but I don’t know what is going to happen."

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Lewis, who came through City's academy before breaking through under Guardiola, suggested he has no plans to go anywhere. "I've always wanted to play for City," he said.

"It's my dream club, and like you see today, when I'm playing with the kind of players that I'm playing with, it brings out the best in me, so I'm so happy.

"Everyone wants assurance and security, but at the end of the day, it's on me," he said. "It's on me to perform. It's on me to take the chances. If I take my own chances, I do it. If I don't, then I have to work and get better."

Lewis' assiste for Haaland's goal allowed City to break the deadlock 11 minutes before half-time, and they quickly made it 2-0 through Premier League debutant Tijjani Reijnders. Haaland got his second via a Reijders assist around the hour mark, before substitute Rayan Cherki added a late fourth.

"He is an incredible, big signing for us," Guardiola said of summer signing Reijnders. "His work ethic, a holding midfielder occupies a lot of spaces and then after the control with the ball and his movements, and then he is trying to get in behind and score - really pleased."

Wolves have been quieter than City in the transfer market, and manager Vitor Pereira indicated after the game that reinforcements are needed. "We need to keep doing the good things, improve the bad things and wait for the club to buy new players because we need new quality to help," he said as his team lost their first league game dince the departures of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Matheus Cunha and Nelson Semedo.

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