Foden wings in for starring Wembley role

PHIL OUTSHINES VILLA’S GREALISH ON BIG STAGE

PRETTY much everyone was in agreement before this final that if Aston Villa were going to cause an upset, it would all be because of Jack Grealish.

So outstanding has the midfielder been in a struggling Villa side this season that it is little wonder United are so keen to snap him up and Pep Guardiola needs no invitation to praise him.

The 24-year-old, of course, may look even better in a stronger team but it is no slight on him to say that where many thought or even hoped that this final would belong to him, it was instead seized by an English talent that few expected to be on the pitch – and certainly not in a foreign position.

Phil Foden has been tipped as a special talent from within City since he was still at primary school, but it has been how he has developed in the last three years that has been truly fascinating.

With the academy operating in a holistic style that in principle makes it easier to bridge the gap to the first team, Foden had always prospered as a No.10, running the game through midfield with exquisite touch, tempo and vision.

He still has all of those qualities but where comparisons with David Silva were once obvious, they are now increasingly redundant.

If lining up at left wing-back for his first competitive start for City back in December 2017 in a deadrubber Champions League game with Shakhtar Donetsk initially seemed tokenistic, could it now be yet another example of something Guardiola saw before anyone else?

Perhaps that gives the manager too much credit with hindsight, but if the outstanding qualities of Kevin de Bruyne, Silva, and Ilkay Gundogan help explain why midfield opportunities have been limited for Foden then his potential all over the pitch looks frightening.

At Arsenal in December, his first

league start of the season, he was outstanding on the left of a threeman attack. At Wembley, the stage where many predict he will shine on with the national team in future, he was the best player on the pitch from the right wing.

The extra spring that his running gives to the team – helped by a bulkier frame through extra work in the gym over the last two years – was evident in the opening ten minutes as he carried the ball from one half to the other squeezing through or bouncing off challenges.

His connection with Sergio Aguero was superb and it was a clever run and header from Rodri’s curling ball that set up the opening goal. As Villa kicked off, Foden stormed past the halfway line to force Matt Targett to turn back and set the tone for how the whole team should press. After the unexpected setback from conceding, Foden was off again as Fernandinho looked to pick him out.

A few years ago, the sight of the teenager screaming at his more senior team-mates for the ball was enough to encourage people he had what it took to make it at City. To watch him outshine all of them in a cup final should put all doubters to bed. This was Foden’s final, and what should really excite City fans is that there is still so much more to come from a player that isn’t turning out as perhaps expected but is seemingly even better for it.