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How former Manchester City prospect Rony Lopes is realising his potential with Monaco
It was a dream debut for Marcos Lopes, the ideal start to his senior career. Having come through the youth ranks at Benfica and stood out as a showstopping talent in Portugal – his nickname, ‘Rony’, a tribute to the ultimate virtuoso, Ronaldinho – the Brazilian-born attacking midfielder was snapped up by the Manchester City academy in 2011 and made a surprise inclusion in their pre-season squad the following year.
Only 16 at the time, he earned high praise from City’s then first-team coach David Platt when he accompanied the senior set-up to Austria and then the Far East. “The boy has taken well to the work and he wouldn’t be at our club now if we didn’t think there is the opportunity for him to develop into a first-team player, and to do that here at City you have to be talented,” Platt said.
“We have our eye on the ball with him and he has impressed the other players. He is comfortable on the ball and doesn’t look 16.”
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Come January 2013, Lopes was ready for his first senior appearance for City. Coming on as a late substitute for David Silva in an FA Cup third-round match against Watford, the little midfielder made an instant impression for Roberto Mancini’s side. Latching onto a rebound from a speculative Mario Balotelli effort, Lopes executed a neat finish to slot home and score on his debut against the Hornets. In doing so, he became City’s youngest ever goalscorer at 17 years and nine days.
Unexpected exit
Despite his perfect start for City, Lopes would find his appearances limited to a few cameos in the cups over the next season and a half. It’s possible that a change of manager – not to mention a fresh spate of signings at the club – obstructed his pathway to the first team, with Mancini dismissed at the end of his debut season and replaced with Manuel Pellegrini.
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That said, Pellegrini seemed to rate the teen prodigy enough to want to keep him when Monaco came calling in the summer of 2015. Lopes had spent the 2014/15 season on loan with Lille, impressing for the three-time French champions and making himself a regular first-team fixture in Ligue 1.
Considering that Pellegrini initially confirmed that Lopes would only be leaving on loan, the announcement of his £8m switch to Monaco on a five-year deal was met with some confusion. “I think Marcos needs to plays more in another club… here he has a lot of competition with David [Silva] and Samir [Nasri] so it is better for him to go on loan,” Pellegrini claimed shortly before Lopes’ permanent departure was announced.
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On their way to a Premier League and League Cup double that term, many City fans saw another talented youth player who had briefly flirted with a breakthrough, struggled to displace a senior pro in the long term and, ultimately, made the understandable decision to leave. There were few tears shed over Lopes’ departure, especially when those fans still paying attention noted he had spent another season and a half learning his game on loan at Lille.
Flourishing in France
It was during the 2016/17 season with Les Dogues that Lopes really began to flourish. With four goals and four assists in the league he started to show his teeth as an attacker, even if the tidiness of his passing and ball retention still left something to be desired. Returning to Monaco this summer as their title-winning squad was dismantled by wealthy European rivals – the departure of Manchester City-bound Bernardo Silva freeing up some space in the middle of the park – Lopes was given a chance to establish himself by Leonardo Jardim. He has taken that chance with both hands, scoring nine goals in all competitions this season including four in his last three matches.
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Throw in five assists in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, and it starts to look like a mightily impressive few months for a midfielder who is still on 22 years of age. Having declared for Portugal at international level, he made his senior debut for the national team in November. While he seems like an outsider for World Cup contention, nothing is impossible for a youngster who continues to refine the technical and creative side of his game.
At 5’9, relatively slight of build, Lopes is never going to be a physically dominant footballer. Excelling in the advanced right and left midfield berths this term, as well as occasionally in behind the striker, he has made it his remit to make chances for his teammates and steal in for increasingly regular goals. Against Bordeaux this weekend, he zipped onto an opportune pass behind the defence and thumped one past goalkeeper Benoit Costil, sealing three points for Monaco.
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While Manchester City have plenty of talent at their disposal and one of the best attacks in Europe, Pep Guardiola may well have watched Lopes from afar and wondered about how he might have utilised him at City. Though he famously passed over working with the original Ronaldinho at Barcelona, the new ‘Rony’ has a different profile to his namesake and Guardiola may well have been intrigued. With Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva on the books, Guardiola won’t feel too aggrieved at having been deprived of Lopes’ abilities. Still, City fans will be glad to see their one-time dream debutant realising his potential overseas.
