Foden’s Icelandic slip may well benefit England in the long run
PHIL FODEN scanned his surroundings against Olympiakos in midweek and lined up a wonder pass to Riyad Mahrez out on the right. It would have looked sumptuous if it had come off but it didn’t. The seed fell on stony ground and possession was lost for Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne turned to Foden and, in exasperation, screamed: “Just play the ball, man.”
That’s the thing about being 20 – you make misjudgements.
Nobody knows that better than Foden after his Icelandic experience.
The fallout brought him some harsh headlines, a rollicking from his partner no doubt and the loss of his place in the England squad one game into his senior career.
It was, all in all, a pretty humiliating experience.
The wilderness period came to an end on Thursday, when Gareth Southgate recalled him with the promise that he will set aside time during the international period to sit down with Foden and talk about “football, life and everything”.
The England manager wants to get to know Foden better and help shape his future thinking because, if he learns his lesson from Reykjavik, he will be part of the national set-up for the next decade.
As a creative midfield option, he is a precious asset for Southgate. Along with left-back, it is
England’s thinnest area.
Foden, who will play his part in the biggest game of the Premier League season so far against Liverpool today, has long been the chosen one in this area.
He has a wonderful opportunity ahead of him but the ball is in his court.
Southgate says the Iceland incident is water under the bridge and is not the reason he excluded Mason Greenwood from his latest squad. We should take him at his word on this.
But it will not miraculously have been expunged from Southgate’s memory.
A manager needs to trust his players and Foden has work to do on that front to win that trust back. This will have been a difficult two months but it could be the making of him. Since the age of eight, when he was marked down as the player of his age in the North West and chased by all the big clubs in the area, all Foden has known has been rave reviews.
Picked by England at every age group level, he was the player of the tournament as the Under-17s World Cup was lifted in India.
THE youngest Englishman to start a Champions League game at 17, he served his apprenticeship at City around the best players in the world before breaking into the starting line-up on a regular basis at the end of last season.
A first England cap was inevitable.
Maybe the stumble that accompanied it as he pulled the rug from under his own feet will bring home its true worth.
What followed must have felt all-consuming. It was a tough way to learn that a top footballer’s responsibilities stretch beyond the white lines.
It can be a force for good for Foden – and by extension for England.
With the first blip of his career, the penny has hopefully dropped that professional football is not a one-way escalator to success. Take your eye off the step and a player – even one as talented as Foden – can easily come clattering down. His response on the field to the fallout has, on the whole, been encouraging.
His performances have yet to hit the consistent heights of last season but neither has he retreated into some dark personal cave.
The verve and vision he has continued to bring to City will be of even more value to England.
If he appreciates the honour of playing for England a little more now it has been temporarily taken away, then the national team could be the beneficiaries in the long run. The odd misplaced pass from the midfielder, 20, is to be expected.
Just as long as an entire career does not go astray.