Sitting beneath the Croatia sunshine during a pre-season training camp last July, Patrick Vieira was asked to identify which of his Manchester City starlets had the potential to truly cut it at the highest level.

'I could give you ten names,' Vieira told Sportsmail, in diplomatic fashion. 'But I must say Marcos "Rony" Lopes is a special talent. He is 19, an attacking midfielder. We have just sent him to Lille on loan. Talent is not enough for the first-team. Your work-ethic, focus and determination has to be there. I believe Lopes has those things.'

His words now read with prescience. While Manchester City have faltered both at home and abroad, Marcos Lopes - nicknamed 'Rony' by his childhood friends as he would always wear the jersey of the Brazilian legend Ronaldo - has burst into form in headline-making fashion.

Marcos Lopes is starring on loan for Lille and Patrick Vieira says the Portuguese is a 'special talent'

The Manchester City academy star has the work-ethic, focus and determination to succeed, says Vieira

After overcoming the hamstring problems that hindered the first half of his campaign, he has dazzled the French with his silky passing and eye for goal, emerging as one of Europe's most prolific teenagers.

Over the past few weeks alone, he has scored one and created one in a victory over league leaders Lyon and followed it up with another assist in a win at Guingamp.

As he walks into the press lounge to talk to Sportsmail at Lille's Luchin training ground, he is greeted by a L'Equipe journalist, who jocularly badgers him to spend another year here.

'He is the club's most important player. Amazing, for 19.' the journalist says.

When we sit down to talk, Lopes is surprised to learn that he is the teenager with the second-highest number of goals and assists in Europe's top five leagues this season - second only to his team-mate and future Liverpool player Divock Origi.

’Yeah?’ he smiles, 'I didn’t know that. Not bad. It is unexpected because I was injured for a few months but to know these numbers now is very good for me.'

Back in Manchester, those who have tracked Lopes' progress will not be so surprised. Hints of his talent have been flickering for some time.

City youth coach Vieira drew Manuel Pellegrini's attention to Lopes after he impressed as his captain

He was lured to City from Benfica at the age of 15.

By 16, Lopes had been signed up by Adidas and impressed to such an extent that he was invited along on the club's pre-season tour by Roberto Mancini.

At 17 years and eight days, he became the club's youngest goalscorer in a 3-0 victory over Watford in the FA Cup.

Last season under Manuel Pellegrini, he made his mark in the Capital One Cup, creating two goals in the 3-0 victory at West Ham in the semi-final.

Lopes was lured to City from Benfica at age 15

Speak to those who know and the feeling is that he will be the first academy talent to truly flourish in the Sheikh Mansour era.

'I think City started scouting me when I was 14,' Lopes says, 'They watched me for one season and they started to talk with my parents. My parents didn't say anything to me but at the end of season, I was 15 and they told me City wanted to sign me. I had to think a lot but I felt it was a good choice.'

Scouts from Barcelona also held talks with his parents. 'There were other clubs. It was all done through my agent and parents. They showed me what City proposed.'

He flashes a grin. 'Yeah, it was good for me. It's England, it's City, so I took the challenge.'

As he speaks for nearly an hour in fluent English, it is hard to envisage the difficulties he endured in his early days in Manchester.

'I did not speak a word of English. Nothing. In school in Portugal, I was the worst at English. Then I move over, most of my team-mates are English and I'm thinking "What am I doing here? I can't speak to people!"

'After a year, I was speaking well. I had the tutor at City and I had extra lessons at my house as well to learn even quicker.'

Getting to grips with his team-mates' Manchester accents was his next challenge.

'It's difficult, no?' he admits, blowing out his cheeks. 'Lots of long vowels! You have to remember, though, it was the first place I lived in England so it was normal for me. I've learned Manc-English! You have to learn the language, it's very important.'

The pre-season trip with Mancini to Austria represented his first major sign of progress.

'I was shocked. I was in my house in Salford watching TV when I found out. The first few days I was walking around dazed. The first time you go for a tackle with Yaya Toure or Vincent Kompany... that is scary!'

Were there any initiations for the young pup now that he was among the big boys? 'No…' he begins, before breaking into a giggle, 'Well, not that time.'

So which time? 'Last season - I had to sing and dance. It was after the game against West Ham when I was man of the match. It was in the hotel. I sang a Brazilian song that was big at the time, Michael Telo’s Ai Se eu te lego - do you know it?

He starts clapping, 'It goes like this... Nossa, Nossa..' He sings, picking up the rhythm. 'It was funny.'

After the semi-final against West Ham in January, Lopes went on to train with the first-team squad for the rest of the season. Vieira had recommended him to Pellegrini after a series of star-studded showings as his captain in the Under 21 Premier League and the UEFA Youth League - including a hat-trick in a 6-0 victory over Bayern Munich.

'After the Bayern game, Patrick said to me that that was the player he wanted me to be. He said: “Today, you were a leader and the team followed you.” To hear this from Patrick Vieira, it is just amazing.’

He made his mark in the Capital One Cup semi-final for City, creating two goals in the 3-0 victory at West Ham

Lopes challenges West Ham's Alou Diarra in the air in his man of the match performance last year

‘He is very important to me. He keeps in touch with me a lot at Lille, asking how I am.'

Lopes is a bright and engaging young man and he speaks with a maturity that betrays the clichés that surround the young footballers of today.

He is exasperated, for example, by the number of young people who spend their life secluded indoors on games consoles.

‘For a kid, it’s great to play football in the street,' Lopes explains, 'Every day after school we were in the street in Portugal. It’s very good because you are enjoying yourself with the ball, without pressure and just for fun.

'Now, the kids are at home on the Playstation. It’s not right. You should be on the street, playing with your friends, happy with a football. You shouldn’t be alone on the computer or Playstation.

'When I was a kid, I loved to be on the street. We put some rocks or jumpers down for goals, or shoes. I played with some cheap £5 trainers and it’s memories forever.'

On Vieira, Lopes says: He is very important to me. He keeps in touch with me a lot at Lille, asking how I am'

The son of an Angolan mother and Brazilian father, Lopes was born in Brazil but moved to Portugal at the age of 4.

'My family didn't have much at all in Brazil, we were poor,' he explains. 'It was difficult because it was a big family and we didn't have money. You had to count everything. Food, for example, we couldn't eat too much. Everything was rationed. It was too many in the family but we were lucky that we never went without food. We'd always have something but not much.

'My grandmother was living in Portugal and they felt it was best to move there to try for a better life. It was a little bit better. '

Lopes has represented Portugal at various youth levels but he has been at the centre of an intensifying battle with Brazil for his services. Brazilian scouts have landed in Manchester in recent years on a mission to schmooze Lopes towards his father's country. Until he represents a senior side, the player would still be eligible to play for Brazil.

His response is diplomatic. 'I played for Portugal in the youth-teams. I’m very happy with Portugal, I have always played with them.'

Marcos Lopes was called Rony as a kid because he always was always wearing this No 9 jersey (left), just like the one worn by Brazilian striker Ronaldo

For now, his focus is on improving with Lille and his humble beginnings have only made him more determined.

‘Yes, I am more serious maybe than other young players,' he nods. 'I am lucky to have an amazing opportunity and I don't want to waste it. I went into the Benfica academy when I was 11. I didn’t know anybody. It made me grow up fast, fending for myself. I would see my parents once a fortnight, once I didn’t see my dad for three months. That made me more mature.'

The decision to leave Benfica was not taken lightly. ‘I met people there that are my best friends for life. To leave and go for another country was difficult. I was 15, not easy for a kid.’

But it is more than that. 'It was a big sacrifice by my family. My dad gave up his job to come with me. He was driving trucks around Europe. He also did not speak English. My mum, brother and sister followed within six months. We had a conversation as a family. If I wanted to go, they said they would support me. My brother and sister were amazing, they gave up their friends in Portugal too.'

This season, dad has followed Lopes once again to Lille. The pair have regular French lessons together and Lopes now has a firm grasp of four languages - Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. His family remain settled in the leafy Cheshire suburb of Hale.

'I’ve never seen anybody playing football on the streets of Hale Barns,' he laughs, 'The only people who have played football on the streets of Hale are my dad, my brother and I. It was fun! It’s more men walking dogs and cyclists usually. But it is a different culture.

Lopes pay tribute to his family, especially his father (pictured), who travels to Lille with the teen sensation

Lopes spent most of his childhood in Portugal before making the big call at age 15 to leave Benfica for City

'My brother still has a year left in school, he is 15. He's very clever, much more than me. My sister is taking a photography course and it is better for the studies to be in England.'

He talks a lot about his family. 'We are very close. My life away from football can sound boring but it's just professional. I like family things, normal things. Movies, I love action movies, the Fast and Furious films. I also love The Hobbit. I like human stories, too. I cried a little when I saw The Impossible, about the Tsunami. That is a proper movie. I love films based on true stories.'

For Lopes, the closing credits will soon play out on his time with Lille and this summer will bring a significant juncture. He will return to Manchester in the summer, when talks will commence over a new deal. His current contract with City expires in a year's time.

Lille would very much like to extend the loan for another season. Lopes, in an ideal world, would like to be integrated into the first team squad at City. ‘But you know the most important thing for me is to play. Here in Lille I am playing. I am playing many games and to return and barely play, it’s a step backwards.