Rico Lewis believes Maximo Perrone performed as if he'd been with Manchester City 'for ages' in his debut.
City moved to sign highly-rated midfielder Perrone from Argentine side Velez Sarsfield in January and he was initially expected to train with the squad for the rest of the season without getting close to Pep Guardiola's side. As a result, eyebrows were raised when the 20-year-old was named on the bench for the defeat by Tottenham shortly after his arrival.
Perrone was then out of the squad until this week when he was on the bench for the Champions League stalemate with RB Leipzig with Kevin De Bruyne sidelined but despite the brilliant Belgian's return, he remained involved for Saturday's trip to Bournemouth.
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With the Blues four goals up and cruising in the second half, Guardiola took the opportunity to hand Perrone a surprising debut as he came on with 18 minutes to go and gave a promising cameo.
“He’s very new. He’s another top, top player," Lewis said of Perrone. "Seeing him in training and today being his first game – he’s been really good and gelled with the squad well. He looks like he’s been with us for ages seeing him on the pitch today.”
Perrone's compatriot Julian Alvarez was the star of the show on the South Coast as he bagged the opener, claimed another despite it going down as an own-goal and enjoyed a strong return to the starting XI.
“He’s such a great team player," Lewis said of Alvarez. "He runs for everyone. It’s a pleasure to play with him and he’s another top player.”
Perrone and Alvarez will be hoping for another chance to impress on Tuesday as City go on yet another long trip, this time to Bristol City, for an FA Cup fifth-round tie. Lewis is likely to start as well and he believes winning the match will be important for City's momentum.
“We want to win everything," he added. "Having the momentum is really key going into the FA Cup and future games coming up. It’s the drive to win games – we want to win everything we can. That alone gives us a lot of energy."
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