Manchester City’s Marcos Lopes loaned to Lille

The 18-year-old Portuguese midfielder joins the Ligue 1 side on a season-long loan where he'll gain first-team experience and, he hopes, play Champions League football with the third-place finishers of last season.

Marcos Lopes of Manchester City, centre, in action during a match against Al Ain at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in May. Satish Kumar / The National / May 15, 2014

Manchester City youngster Marcos Lopes joined French club Lille on a season-long loan on Monday.

Lopes has made only five appearances for English champions City, but the Portuguese midfielder is already regarded as one of the club’s brightest young talents.

The 18-year-old was especially impressive when he started for City in their League Cup semi-final second leg win at West Ham last season.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini believes Lopes will benefit from a season gaining experience with Lille and the player says he is relishing the chance to play first-team football.

“I feel very happy to have signed because it is a new step in my career and it is a good opportunity for me to develop as a player,” Lopes told City’s website.

“It is very important for me to play in a professional league for the first time. I think playing in the French League will be very beneficial because it is a league that is getting bigger, better and stronger every year.”

Lille finished third in Ligue 1 last season to qualify for the preliminary stages of the Champions League.

And Lopes added: “It would be very exciting to be able to play Champions League football.

“It would be such a good experience for me to play in that competition, which everyone recognises as the best in European football.”

Lopes most recently appeared in Manchester City’s exibition match against Al Ain in May, when the Premier League champions took a victory tour of the UAE.

Playing at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, Lopes scored the first goal in City's eventual 3-0 victory. The National's John McAuley wrote of it at the time, "...the livewire Portuguese forward broke the deadlock in an already exciting encounter just after the hour, the ground united in applauding a nice bit of control and tidy finish."

The National's Ali Khaled, also covering the match, described Lopes as "the highly rated academy player" who "finished confidently" in the Garden City match.

Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE