PEP’S READY TO THROW IN FODEN
Teenage star is set for City first-team bow
AT THE end of a gl owing assessment of Phil Foden, Pep Guardiola mischievously added that Manchester City’s prodigy must be ready for a call ‘because sometimes the manager makes surprises’.
It raised the prospect of a firstteam debut for the 17-year-old. If not tonight during an almost meaningless g a me a g a i nst Feyenoord, then certainly soon.
A surprise to the outside world, perhaps, but not to those around City, some of whom were beating down Roberto Mancini’s door five years ago to tell the Italian what a prospect they owned.
Foden’s introduction has been coming for some time and is a real shot in the arm for City’s academy. So, too, the emergence of Brahim Diaz, nine months his senior, who has a 10- minute League Cup cameo to his name.
Both have a chance of minutes after Guardiola left Feyenoord boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst guessing exactly how much he was shuffling City’s team. The Premier League leaders have already qualified for February’s last-16 stage.
‘What I saw in pre- season, in training, in the Under 17 World Cup, they are ready,’ Guardiola said. ‘Otherwise they would not be training here every day with us.
‘They have to have quality to train with us. It’s not just to have fun or be gentle. They are there because they have a chance to play. If they play or don’t play depends on my decision, but they have to be ready.’
Guardiola was enthused by Foden after watch-watchi ng the Under 18s train last season, on, telling friends the he Stockport-born midfielder is a name to remember. He was a substitute in a Champions League match against Celtic t hi s t i me l ast t year and has sat at on three Premier mier League benches since August.
Strikingly, though,gh excitement surrounding Foden dates back to Mancini’s time here.
The Italian was made aware of a scrawny kid waltzing his way through academy matches long before he left in 2013. He is a playmaker who even then, just into his teens, created a buzz.
His impending debut comes after he was named player of the tournament as England lifted the Under 17 World Cup in India and just last week he was handed the Rising Star award at the North West Football Awards.
Foden picked that up wearing trainers with his suit, an act almost as i mpish as nutmegging a j ournalist af t er t r ai ning in Houston during the summer tour of America.
‘The skills are there, the quality is there,’ Guardiola added. ‘Phil and Brahim live for the profession. We can help them with speed because the lack of time to take a decision is higher so Phil has to fight duels against Kevin De Bruyne, against Fernandinho, against David Silva.’
Guardiola also revealed that Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will have their own duel in the battle to become City’s main man in attack.
The absence of l ef t back Benjamin Mendy, recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury, dictates the pair cannot play alongside each other. ‘Sergio is so tough. So is Gabriel,’ Guardiola said. ‘Now is the toughest decision because both, with their different qualities, they deserve to play.
‘When you have Mendy, he can play wide and the winger can go inside. Fabian Delph cannot do that. Without Mendy, Leroy Sane has to go wide, which is why they don’t play together.’