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It has been claimed that Manchester City could be willing to offer either Rico Lewis or Oscar Bobb on loan to Newcastle United in exchange for signing Bruno Guimaraes.

On Sunday, this claim emerged as Guimaraes is claimed to still be valued at £100 million by Newcastle — despite his release clause worth the same figure expiring on June 24, as per Fabrizio Romano.

In June, journalist Ben Jacobs had urged for one to keep an eye out for City trying to sign the Magpies midfielder for £80 million if the clause expired.

It seems like Pep Guardiola’s men are doing their best to land Guimaraes — with the Sky Blues boss describing him as an “exceptional player in March via the club’s official website.

Man City should avoid Rico Lewis or Oscar Bobb loans amid Bruno Guimaraes rumour

However, Manchester City should not be willing to even loan the likes of Lewis or Bobb out to sign the Brazilian international.

Guimaraes’ potential arrival would help City sign a brilliant number eight who could also deputise as a holding midfielder, allowing Rodri to take the odd breather but even so, their two youngsters also play important squad roles.

Starting with Lewis, he should perhaps at least start the 2024/2025 season as his boyhood club’s first-choice right-back due to Kyle Walker’s dip in form.

With the likes of Manuel Akanji and John Stones, two players who are often utilised as backup options for Walker at right-back set to miss pre-season, the 19-year-old will be fit and firing to start for City once the campaign begins.

Defensively, where the Manchester City captain has excelled for years, he is starting to become a liability — struggling to contend with wingers like Raheem Sterling, Anthony Gordon and most recently, Nico Williams in the Euro 2024 final where England lost 2-1 to Spain.

In possession, even at the European Championship, Walker’s struggles continued — with his crossing, first touch and passing all far from the expected level for a key player at City.

Lewis may not be the perfect defender yet but in possession, his comfortability with the ball in tight spaces, eye and execution for line-breaking passes and knack for knitting together his side’s approach in build-up are facets that ensure that whenever he is in the side, Manchester City look far more fluid as a team.

For the last two seasons, the Englishman has been drafted into the team in important games against Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool across all competitions where he has looked at ease at the highest level.

As for Bobb, he too can emerge as a potential understudy to Savinho — who revealed after being announced as a Manchester City player that his “favourite position” is as a right-winger.

Since last season, the Norwegian has often played out on the right flank and looked like a breath of fresh air — primarily due to how incredible his understanding of the game is.

The 21-year-old is able to take risks in possession such as taking on his man and going for goal while also being able to retain the possession and carefully choose his moments when trying to create a score or goal through his incisive passing and eye for the back of the net.

The likes of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden struggled out wide for Portugal and England respectively at Euro 2024; much like they did when tasked to play as wingers last season.

Bobb, who is also a natural midfielder by trade looks far more at ease out of position and in the event that either Savinho is unavailable or is deployed on the left-wing — where he played most of his football for Girona during the 2023/2024 campaign — the Oslo-born technician would emerge as an excellent option on the right flank.

Guimaraes is an excellent player who is versatile, intelligent, defensively robust and a top-class technician but with how crucial both Lewis and Bobb are to this City side, letting them leave in any capacity seems like an unnecessary risk.

Especially when they could further develop as players after another season of learning from Pep Guardiola.

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