Foden central for club and country
City star becoming a leader and Southgate must play him next to Bellingham at this summer’s Euros
PROCESS has to be one of the most frustrating nouns in English football’s vernacular but it best describes Phil Foden. To arrive at this point, Manchester City plotted the route. A couple of dead ends along the way but that’s the process after all.
The Foden struggling for minutes, sitting forlornly on the bench, felt like a bygone era on Monday when he danced off to one corner of the Gtech, match ball in hand, revelling in a second senior hat-trick after turning a tricky away game in City’s favour. His goal celebration, firing a gun at the away end, came after team-mates dubbed him ‘sniper’ in training.
A long time, too, since the clamour for a loan — or something more permanent — away from Pep Guardiola. Or when Foden looked close to breaking down when asked about his lack of chances, shouldering the burden of expectation without tangible opportunities to alleviate it.
Back then, City sources appealed for perspective by pointing towards two Barcelona legends as reference points — Andres Iniesta and Xavi — and how many matches they appeared in during their formative years. The numbers between Foden and those two were actually pretty close, which came as a slight surprise.
They aren’t any more. Brentford marked a 251st appearance for the lad they call the Stockport Iniesta. When Iniesta and Xavi turned 24, they had 226 and 225 respectively under their belts. Foden is 24 at the end of May.
There could be as many as 27 games still to play in City’s season. While not an exact science as a comparison, somewhere touching 300 appearances before the start of next season is a huge jump from Barca’s heartbeat under Guardiola at the same juncture in their careers.
At 680, Alan Oakes holds City’s appearance record. It would take something disastrous for Foden not to eventually eclipse that. While one-club men are rare these days, even when everyone was after him on loan, Foden wasn’t interested. He learned to put his trust in the manager and that has paid off, with just the 14 major trophies in his cabinet already.
The kid Txiki Begiristain told Guardiola all about on his first day in the job, eight years ago, is now earmarked as someone who can ultimately take over Kevin De Bruyne’s responsibilities by the boss. Guardiola is now talking about Foden ‘leading’ the team in the future. These are not phrases the Catalan throws around without thinking.
Guardiola knows that he has always had an impact on matches in terms of goals and assists — 124 now — but over the the past months, an injury-free Foden is controlling them.
He’s more adept at slowing attacks down, evidenced with an assist for Rodri against Burnley last week when he waited and waited for the right pass. His little touches while surveying the scene around him resemble those of Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva.
We’re in the next stage of Foden’s development, the one where it is impossible for Gareth Southgate not to plonk him in the middle of the pitch next to Jude Bellingham. Foden is the most technically gifted Englishman in the Premier League and deserves a central role at the European Championship.
City might have used him as a rudimentary left winger at Brentford but most of his night was spent within the width of the 18-yard box. Central to City, central to England.
A turning point came just before Christmas, when the concession of possession and a desire to rectify that mistake saw Foden gift Crystal Palace a stoppagetime penalty to earn a point. Foden was distraught, Guardiola told him he needed to learn.
‘Since then, the two great games at the Club World Cup, then he was unbelievable at Everton… his impact has been more than decisive,’ Guardiola said. ‘He’s a more mature player.’
It was noticeable at Brentford how clued in he was to defensive duties. And the way he bawled at Ederson for a dodgy pass to him in a dangerous position. He doesn’t mind telling senior guys the score and often directs traffic in a way De Bruyne always has.
‘I’ve been getting goals and assists playing more centrally — that’s one of the reasons why,’ Foden said. ‘It’s important for me to be an attacker. The team need to rely on players like me to find a solution. I want to be that player.
‘It would help if I played one position and learned it every game but I’m a person who adapts. I’m just enjoying playing in the middle and that’s where I see myself playing the best football.’
Guardiola has remarked on the importance of Foden keeping his private life settled and recent displays suggest he is content off the pitch. His son, Ronnie, stayed up to watch at home on TV.
Maybe he was in bed when Foden did TV duties after picking up a third player-of-the-match award since Christmas.
Recently he joked with colleagues that he wanted to rack them up before Erling Haaland’s return, but it turns out that not even the big Norwegian could steal the limelight this week.