Changes to Phil Foden's role at Manchester City have put him back on path to greatness
After Phil Foden had wreaked havoc against Liverpool at Anfield a few seasons ago, teeing up two goals before claiming a stunning one of his own to round off a 4-1 win, Carles Puyol felt moved to laud the young Manchester City tyro on social media. “What a great player,” the former Barcelona captain said, and he should know.
In truth, Puyol was not the only illustrious player of past Barcelona association to show an interest in Foden’s progress. Pep Guardiola’s presence at City has always ensured a degree of fascination in Catalonia at events unfolding in east Manchester and in the past Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano are thought to have idly asked their friend and compatriot Sergio Aguero what “that kid Foden” is like.
Aguero and David Silva both took Foden under their wing in those early days when “Pep’s lad” – as the youngster was affectionately dubbed – was breaking into City’s first-team squad but there had been a buzz around this special talent from Stockport for years before his promotion to the seniors.
He was, to most close observers, destined for greatness, so long as he kept free of injury and the perennial distractions that can come with being an elite level footballer.
That seemingly inexorable rise to the top was not going to be without its hiccups but, after an impressive start to last season when he scored seven goals in 11 Premier League and Champions League matches, Foden would gradually find himself on the outside looking in.
He started just five of City’s final 18 matches in all competitions en route to that historic Treble and was on the bench for both legs of the Champions League semi-final victory over Real Madrid, and the final against Inter Milan, having lost his place on the left to Jack Grealish. For the first time, questions were being asked.
As such, this was always going to be a big season for Foden. But, as he prepares for another meeting with Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime, he does so as one of Guardiola’s go-to men alongside Rodri and Erling Haaland. He has the possessed, appealingly arrogant look of a player who knows he is different and out to catapult himself into that rarefied sphere that always seemed his calling.
Haaland, also 23, Paris Saint Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, 24, and of course Foden’s international team-mate, Jude Bellingham, still only 20 but already drawing gasps of astonishment for Real Madrid and England, are the poster boys for a new generation of superior talent now that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the twilight of their careers.
It is company Foden wants and expects to keep and a category Guardiola, for one, has long felt the player would inhabit so long as there was no deviation in his appetite, application and ambition.
For a period, with upheaval behind the scenes around his representation and outside distractions aplenty, City harboured concerns about a loss of focus but the Foden who has emerged this season is a different beast and there is excitement about what the next 12 to 18 months could bring. With three goals in five league starts against Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp knows only too well what a threat Foden routinely presents to his team.
Has it helped that Guardiola has been using him predominantly off the right when he has not started centrally? It is no secret that Foden much prefers the right to the left given the freedom it affords him to cut inside naturally on his left foot and he has taken advantage of the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne and the departure of Ilkay Gundogan to become arguably City’s key creative force. Guardiola used his wide players predominantly as instruments of control last season but that is already being tweaked somewhat this term with Jeremy Doku’s arrival and the changes to Foden’s role.
Blessed with extraordinary balance, an exquisite first touch and dribbling technique and great vision, opponents are finding the England man increasingly hard to stifle, such is his ability to wriggle out of the tightest of spots and inflict damage wherever he is stationed. His goal against Young Boys this month showcased just that: a sublime first touch from Grealish’s pass carried him away from Ulisses Garcia in one sumptuous movement before a dead-eyed finish low into the far corner with minimal backlift.
Phil Foden slow motion goal vs. Young boys pic.twitter.com/ajezJpnvwn
— IBT4F (@ibt4f) November 14, 2023
Forty five per cent of Foden’s open-play touches in the Premier League this season have come from the right or inside right positions compared to just 24 per cent last term and 18 per cent the year before that.
He is moving like a player full of confidence in both his own ability and the trust and status afforded him, not just with City but also England where he seems to be making an increasingly strong impression on Gareth Southgate, whose faith in him had seemed to waver in the past.
In September, Southgate defended his reluctance to use Foden in a central role by suggesting his critics should ask his club manager about his best position.
Guardiola has indicated previously that Foden needed to improve without the ball to play centrally but, at club and international level, there has been a maturing that both his managers are recognising and embracing — and which Liverpool will need to suppress.
