There’s something of a formula with Rony Lopes interviews in the Portuguese media.
Firstly, the AS Monaco player will be asked whether he’s considering returning to Liga NOS in the near future. He’ll say no, and that he wants to build his career elsewhere.
Then he’s asked if he’d like to return to Manchester City should the club make a move for him, and he goes all misty eyed and drops a hint that he’d very much be up for it.
In early 2017, Lopes explained: “I was very happy in England, I learned how to play a new football and the big learning I had is that who works ends up being rewarded. But everything has an end, it’s part of life.
“My younger brother is still studying in England and my mother lives with him. I’d like to play in the Premier League again, preferably at City because the fans already know me.”
He did similar in 2018, and he’s getting 2019 off to the right start by throwing City hints in again.
Speaking to the New Year’s Day edition of O Jogo, the Monaco player was asked if he fancies going back to the club: “I’m going to Manchester whenever I can. My mother and my brother continue to live there, so the connection is close. It was there that I grew up 
as a man and a player and it’s a special club. As for the future, I do not think about the next club. My gift is in Monaco. They have invested and believed me very much, so my intention is to correspond with a lot of work and professionalism.”
He’s still only 23 years of age, there’s plenty of time.
