City youngsters to get their chance if they deserve them Foden, 17, and Diaz, 18, made Uefa Champions League debuts in midweek
Pep Guardiola insisted further chances will come for Phil Foden and his contemporaris at Manchester City – if they deserve them.
Foden, the highly rated City Academy product and star of England’s recent Under 17 World Cup win, was handed his first-team debut as a second-half substitute against Feyenoord in midweek.
Brahim Diaz, another exciting teenage prospect, was also given a late taste of the action.
Their opportunities may have arisen because City’s progress to the Uefa Champions League last 16 allowed Guardiola to rotate his squad in the group fixture, but the manager says they could now earn more chances.
“If we give an opportunity to young players it is because they deserve it,” Guardiola said. “That is the most important thing. But one young player, you can say we helped them when they play regularly. If they play one or two games and then disappear that is nothing.
“It depends on our confidence and their confidence but the rest always depends on them. People say it depends on the manager but it depends on the players.
“The quality, how they live their professional lives, how they are.
“It is simple like that.” Guardiola has a good record of promoting youth players from his past spells in charge of Barcelona.
That is something he is proud of but says he selects such players “because they are good, not for my statistics”.
It seems unlikely either Foden, 17, or 18-year-old Spaniard Diaz will be involved as City look to maintain their flying start to the Premier League season at Huddersfield Town on Sunday. City have collected 34 points from a maximum 36 and have won their last 17 matches in all competitions.
Goalkeeper Ederson has been one of the key components in City’s success, bringing assured performances and bolstering confidence in the defence since his £35 million (Dh172m) summer move from Benfica.
“When you buy one player from another country and he comes here, always in the first moment you [wonder] how are they going to react, settle the family, house, kids, school,” Guardiola said of the Brazilian.
“It’s a process and sometimes it is not easy for some players but he has settled quite good.
“He is so calm. In the bad moments and the good moments it is always the same behaviour and that gives us a lot of confidence.”
In Sunday’s early matches, Sean Dyche’s seventh-placed Burnley take on sixth-placed Arsenal at Turf Moor with Dyche’s men on the same number of points (22) as their more illustrious rivals while Everton travel to Southampton in the early kick off.
It depends on our confidence and their confidence but the rest always depends on them ... on the players PEP GUARDIOLA Manchester City manager