“Most decisive player” of Manchester City, Phil Foden has entered the big leagues

After six seasons of learning, the 23-year-old is Manchester City’s main threat this season and one of the very best players in Europe.

Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, all are expected during the dream match between Manchester City and Real Madrid, Tuesday April 9, in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. And yet, the player we should keep an eye on the most may not be one of them. Player “the most decisive” for City this season, says his coach Pep Guardiola, Phil Foden walks on water in 2023-2024.

21 goals, 10 assists, with a stunning hat-trick in his last outing, last Wednesday against Aston Villa. The season is not yet over and the English attacking all-rounder is already certain that it will go down as a vintage. For Pep Guardiola, it’s simple, “he’s the player of the season” despite tough competition in the Premier League. “He’s a very classy player. He has an incredible sense of goal. When he has the ball, when he attacks the last line, you say to yourself ‘Oh he’s going to score!’. You have that feeling that shooting “It’s like pulling the trigger for him.”the Spanish manager got excited last week.

More talented than Messi for Guardiola

Half artilleryman, half tightrope walker, Foden is a unique player of his kind, almost anachronistic. The ball sticks to his foot, useful for constantly being one step ahead of the opponent, a bit like a certain Lionel Messi (relatively speaking).

Small (1.71m) and puny, the kid from Stockport, a town in Greater Manchester, flourishes in the championship renowned as the most physical in the world, in an era where the biggest European clubs force their nuggets to spend a lot of time time in the weight room. His great versatility, which allows him to play in all positions on the offensive line, is an asset that Guardiola does not hesitate to use, but which prevents him from settling on a position as an indisputable starter.

In the selection, Gareth Southgate waited until last fall to offer him promotion. The latter still only considered Phil Foden (33 caps, 4 goals) as an option off the bench at the start of the last World Cup.

He even deprived himself of his services during a closed evening against the United States (0-0), which did not please many of the glories of English football, including Wayne Rooney. “He would be a key part of my starting XI if I were England manager. Technically he is the best footballer England have.”he railed in the columns of Times [article en anglais, payant]. Southgate justified himself as follows: “We didn’t think it was a match for Phil plays in the middle because he doesn’t play that role for his club.”.

However, the preferred position of the current second top scorer in the Premier League (14 goals, behind the 17 goals of his teammate Haaland) is surely that of advanced midfielder. Above all, he has had to live in the shadow of Kevin de Bruyne since his first steps among the professionals. Today, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva are players who tend to occupy the same areas as him. This is why he must regularly play in a winger role, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, which also helps limit the risks linked to his defensive shortcomings.

Another step to take

“He is open-minded, but he still needs to improve his understanding of the game. He needs to concentrate on certain things, especially on tension. Sometimes he is a little distracted”, recalled Pep Guardiola last week, not satisfied despite his foal’s hat-trick. It was the Spaniard who threw him into the deep end at the age of 17, directly in the Champions League on November 21, 2017 against Feyenoord Rotterdam. Since then, Phil Foden has played 261 games in the colors of his favorite club, lifting 16 trophies along the way, including five English league titles and the Champions League in 2023.

Guardiola remains the biggest fan of this talent 100% made in Manchester City. “I may not have told him directly, but he is the most talented player I have ever seen as a footballer or manager. He has everything to become one of the very best, and not just in England “, ignited in July 2019 the one who managed Lionel Messi, Xavi and even Iniesta. However, between the very early emergence and his establishment as one of the best players in the world, Phil Foden will have taken his time. A year after not being a first option in his team’s C1 coronation, he still has to be the main player in a big Champions League match. The opportunity is ideal, Tuesday, against the Madrid giant.