Rico Lewis feels injuries to some of his Manchester City teammates have influenced his form this season and hopes to get more opportunities in midfield in the future.
Lewis opened the score when City reached the FA Cup final for the 14th time in their history and the fourth time under Pep Guardiola on Sunday and defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the last four in Wembley Stadium.
At the age of 20 years and 157 days, Lewis became the youngest player who scored for City in Wembley since Steve Mackenzie in the FA Cup final of 1981 against Tottenham (19 years, 172 days).
But even a FA Cup triumph would not be enough to make the season of City a success, with different injuries to Rodri, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland who derail their Premier League defense.
This season Lewis made 41 performances for City in all competitions, with only Josko Gvardiol (48), Ilkay Gundogan (46), Bernardo Silva (44) and Savinho (42) lake.
The Internationale Van England has started 32 times the hem together sixth of all city players and is in fourth place played in their team for minutes (2,987), scored twice and offers five assists.
But the disruption in the ranks of the city led him to become something of a utilities and 56% of his minutes on the right, 17% played on left back, 22% in midfield and 5% on the wing.
“I think it's difficult. It's a bit of bad luck at certain times of the season in which you play in games where you don't have everyone in the team,” said Lewis after Sunday's game.
“You have injured a number of people, so you can't play as normal as you would.
“The whole team is discombobulated and things like that. It is part of football. I even said this if things went well.”
Lewis came through the ranks of City as a full-back, but just like fellow younger Nico O'Reilly could continue to play.
Asked if he saw his future in midfield, Lewis said: “I want to play there. I enjoy playing there. I think I can influence the game there. I think that's the most important thing.
“I can also do the defensive piece. I think the more I play there, the more I feel comfortable and the more I will adapt to the position.”
The next Premier League match of City will place them against Wolves on Friday, with matches against Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham to follow, as well as the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace on 17 May.
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