Rico Lewis was only metres from Pep Guardiola as he spoke to reporters at Elland Road but some of his answers were a world away from the Manchester City manager.
For the second match in succession, Guardiola had raved about the 18-year-old defender at his disposal. A man-of-the-match performance in the Carabao Cup win over Liverpool left him undroppable in his manager's eyes despite another week of training for Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker - two of the fittest players in the squad - and the coach beamed after a 3-1 win over Leeds that City could not have done it without their youngest member.
For all the striking impact Lewis has had on a world-class squad in a short space of time, his sudden rise to first team football has not sunk in. Despite bedding into the side seamlessly, the response was emphatic when he was asked if he now felt part of the group.
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He said: "No! It's still like I'm just playing with them. I don't feel like a first team player. I'm doing my best to keep up with them and my best to put in the best performance to help them win.
"I don't know when I will feel like a first team player, it will just slowly become natural; I don't think there will be a turning point. I got told today before we set off to come here that the team we were working on in training was starting, so I only knew this morning.
"I thought there was more chance [of starting] against Liverpool because I knew players would be out from the World Cup. I didn't think I'd be starting this game, definitely not, but the chance has come and it was a good game.
"The bench is amazing. When you look to the bench and see who can come on, it must be horrible for the opposition to see because they are top level, world class players.
"I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, keeping my head down and I'll play what I play. When it gets tough, carry on, When it's going well, carry on.
"It's not about winning, it's just showing what I can do. Seeing players like Phil and Cole come in and do it gives you more hope as you're coming through and drives you on a bit more. You know it's an achievable thing so it pushes you on a bit more"
Lewis will see all the praise that Guardiola and others - including former full-backs Lee Dixon and Micah Richards - are offering up because his mum will send it to him, yet the young man who made only eight appearances for City Under-23s before moving up will not get carried away. And while the manager has not been shy to talk him up, it is an attitude he will relish and part of the reason Lewis has impressed with the first team group.
That isn't to say that the homegrown full-back from Wythenshawe lacks ambition, though. He has his eyes set on an unfussy goal and does not need to look far for inspiration as Kyle Walker has mastered it.
"The whole time he's been at City I've watched him and the way he plays and has played his whole career he's an asset to the team and when he plays you can see City aren't the same when he doesn't play. Kyle's the main [defender I look up to]. I want to become a regular first team player like he is and an asset to the team.
"He always just says well done to me. After the game, he gives me his piece and that's it. I just try and take information from him. I don't really ask and he doesn't need to come to me but if he sees anything he says it to me."
If Lewis can even come close to Walker's level and the predictions that Guardiola and others are making for him in the game, City will have to look a lot less further than they thought to replace one of their most important players in the team.
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