Marcos Lopes: Is Lille Loanee Manchester City's Future?

Loaned out to Lille this season, does Manchester City's Portuguese central attacking midfielder Marcos "Rony" Lopes, 19, have a future at the club? 

Before you answer that question, you need to know how Lopes is progressing at Lille.

While Manchester City prospects Bersant Celina, Brandon Barker, Jack Byrne, Thierry Ambrose, Olivier Ntcham, et al. have showcased their talents in the UEFA Youth League, Lopes is one crucial step ahead development-wise.

Lopes is already playing against seasoned professionals.

Averaging 54.3 minutes per game and playing 12 out of Lille's first 23 Ligue 1 games, Lopes is striving to make a bigger impact.

"It has been really good so far though the injuries have been frustrating," Lopes said, per David Clayton at MCFC.co.uk. "I'm obviously hoping I can continue to gain experience [at Lille] and use that when I return to City next season."

Lille manager Rene Girard sees greatness in Lopes.

"[Lopes] brings us is bundles of technique, he is young and ambitious," Girard said, per RMC Sport (h/t David Lynch at the Manchester Evening News). "If I was to compare him in style to anyone, I would say that James Rodriguez."

Lopes' neat James-esque left-footed finish in Lille's 2-0 win over Nantes gives you a glimpse of what Girard was talking about.

Yet, a flukish botched shot-turned-assist to Lille centre-forward Michael Frey in a 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne seemingly is Lopes' only way to impact games. 

Lorient's deep-lying forward Valentin Lavigne did more in an 18-minute cameo during a 4-0 win over Guingamp (two goals and one assist) than Lopes has in 651 minutes of Ligue 1 play (one goal, one assist).

Jean-Michel Vandamme, an advisor to Lille president Michel Seydoux, compared and contrasted Eden Hazard to Lopes.

"Eden was a soloist [at Lille]. Rony is an orchestra conductor. He'll make others play better because he'll play for them," Vandamme said, per L'Equipe (h/t Jerome Pugmire at The Associated Press via Yahoo! News). "Ronny's far more involved in the defensive phases of play."

Ligue 1	Eden Hazard 2009-10	Marcos Lopes 2014-15
Games Started/Games Played	31/37	7/12
Goals/Assists	5/8	1/1
Key Passes Per 90 Mins	1.9	2.5
Dribbles Per 90 Mins	2	1.2
Dribble Success %	38	47.4
Tackles Per 90 Mins	1.2	1.1
Tackle Success %	70.6	72.7
Interceptions Per 90 Mins	1.3	0.4

Vandamme's point of view may have been skewered by Hazard's inattentiveness to defending once he established himself.

When Hazard was 19 years old (2009-10), he averaged more tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes than Lopes.

Though, Hazard was a less efficient key passer per 90 minutes and had a lower dribble success percentage than Lopes.

Allan Jiang

Yes, Lopes needs to increase his productivity, but Lille are one of the worst teams going forward in Europe's elite leagues.

Girard surrounds Lopes with a bunch of uncommitted and wasteful centre-forwards devoid of application—and now you know why Lille are the Aston Villa of France.

• Divock Origi: His 35.3 shooting accuracy is Mario Balotelli-bad. Liverpool think they have a No. 9, but Origi at times morphs into a No. 11, seeking refuge out wide. His attitude as a loanee towards Lille is essentially: "Hey, I've got my Premier League contract, toodles."
• Nolan Roux: Two goals from 1,309 minutes. Unless he is going to rebound Jeremie Aliadiere-style, Roux should be a squad player.
• Michael Frey: The potential is there, but he is not ready. Could be another Gianni Bruno. Frey is currently rehabilitating from ankle surgery.
• Ryan Mendes: One of those "I'll just wing it" players.
• Kevin Koubemba: Still adjusting to Ligue 1. 

This is why Lille averages 0.78 goals per game and have scored the least amount of goals in Ligue 1 (18 goals from 23 games).

Rather than be an orchestra conductor as Vandamme observed, Lopes should be a soloist. 

Lopes needs to embark on Hazard-like runs and adopt an individualistic approach, a la Jordan Ayew at Lorient.

Going with Lopes or bust is a more viable solution than sticking with Girard's conservative, firm and lifeless tactics.

It is always easy to put on your hindsight-bias glasses and second-guess (Pete Carroll is nodding his head profusely), but why didn't Manchester City loan Lopes to a club with a less rigid system? 

Why not loan Lopes to a Championship club like Bournemouth?

Playing on loan for an English team would have been more beneficial for Lopes as opposed to playing in France.

Maybe Manchester City hedged their bets: 

• Cream rises to the top theory: If Lopes thrives on loan at Lille, he can slot in as an impact sub next season at Manchester City. This has not been the case.
• Alerts potential suitors: Playing in Ligue 1, the UEFA Champions League (knocked out in the qualifiers against Porto) and UEFA Europa League grants Lopes more coverage than if he was playing for a Championship team. Lopes is a brilliant technician, and there will always be a team that bets on potential rather than productivity. 

Lopes tweeted he has a contract until 2016, so Manchester City could be dealing with another Albert Rusnak situation.

Manchester City loaned Rusnak to Cambuur to increase his transfer stock and then sold him to Groningen in the January transfer window for €550,000/£410,132.

It is a nominal fee for a 20-year-old with an all-round playing style.

In several years' time, Manchester City risk swallowing their pride by re-signing Rusnak should he be to them what Nemanja Matic was to Chelsea.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has only given one player 21 years or younger playing time in the Premier League this season: Jose Pozo (18 years old).

Perhaps, the end game is not to develop Lopes into a future Manchester City starter, but to increase his visibility to potential suitors.

+allanjiang.

When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.