City ‘best place’ for Foden to develop
Txiki Begiristain, the Manchester City director of football, has assured Phil Foden that his future will be best served at the Premier League champions.
The England Under-21 midfielder put pen to paper on a new 5½-year contract yesterday that will tie him to City until June 2024.
Brahim Diaz, Foden’s fellow young City team-mate, is close to quitting the club for Real Madrid over a lack of playing time and Jadon Sancho who, like Foden, is 18, left last year for Borussia Dortmund after being frustrated by an absence of first-team opportunities and has since excelled.
But Begiristain is confident Foden – who is regarded as the most talented of the wealth of gifted youngsters that have come through City’s academy under Arab ownership – will be able to showcase his ability in the first team under manager Pep Guardiola.
Stockport-born Foden has yet to start a Premier League match, but is due to start against Hoffenheim in the Champions League tomorrow and could face Everton at the Etihad Stadium three days later if David Silva has not recovered from a tight hamstring.
Begiristain said: “He is an outstanding talent and he is Manchester City born and bred, so this is where he wants to play his football.
“Under Pep and with the players we have here around him, he is in the best place possible to develop as a player.”
City are confident Foden will become a key player. They have turned down a series of loan offers for the midfielder, who has attracted interest from European clubs, including Paris St-germain. Foden himself is convinced that his development will be best served under Guardiola.
“He’s brilliant,” he said. “He’s probably the best coach in the world. Having him coach me every day is only going to help me. He believes in me so it’s good to have a coach who believes in you. I’m just enjoying it every day.
“Sometimes I wake up and I don’t realise how quick my career is going forward. I just think to myself, ‘Wow, it’s going so quick’, but I’m just enjoying myself day to day.”