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Note: Due to upcoming strike action by Royal Mail, these time frames may be subject to changes or delays outside our control. Do we deliver overseas? The expectation in England used to be for me to dictate play for 90 minutes, but it was never about doing that, and it still isn't. Look at Kevin de Bruyne now - you might not see him all game but then he sets up a goal with an unbelievable pass that no-one else can see, let alone execute it. Phil Foden sees a shot saved in this year’s Champions League final, when he came on for Kevin De Bruyne. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Mason Mount is extremely talented as well, so with those two to build around, we have really got something to go with in the next few years, and the same applies to Declan Rice, who should become a fixture in the team.
As I describe in my book, it is working, everywhere. You can see the talent that is out there in England shirts, right through the age groups up to the senior side, and it is going to keep on coming. Has it helped that Guardiola has been using him predominantly off the right when he has not started centrally? It is no secret that Foden much prefers the right to the left given the freedom it affords him to cut inside naturally on his left foot and he has taken advantage of the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne and the departure of Ilkay Gundogan to become arguably City’s key creative force. Guardiola used his wide players predominantly as instruments of control last season but that is already being tweaked somewhat this term with Jeremy Doku’s arrival and the changes to Foden’s role. When Silva ended a glittering decade at City he was rated by many as the club’s greatest footballer. Three years later De Bruyne’s serial A-list displays allow a similar claim. In January 2020, before Silva’s departure that summer, Guardiola said: “We trust Phil. If we didn’t believe in him we might go to the market to replace David, but we have Phil.” I actually saw him play some of his best games for Villa when he was more central, because it opens up the whole pitch for him.Foden still has time but, maybe, not as much as his 23 years suggest. If Bellingham had chosen City, Foden’s hopes of becoming “the man” under Guardiola would have seriously receded, as shown by the 13 goals scored by the 20-year-old Bellingham in 14 Madrid appearances. In 235 outings for City Foden’s tally is 65, so a rise in the finishing ratio would aid his case. He will hope to start doing so on Saturday, when Guardiola’s leaders welcome Klopp’s second-placed Liverpool. Haaland, also 23, Paris Saint Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, 24, and of course Foden’s international team-mate, Jude Bellingham, still only 20 but already drawing gasps of astonishment for Real Madrid and England, are the poster boys for a new generation of superior talent now that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the twilight of their careers. Judging the correct time to release it is one of the things he has got to work on but I am sure he will improve his decision-making while he is at City, because he has got the ability.
Midfielder for both Manchester City and the England national team, Phil Foden has become synonymous with both teams' recent successes at home and abroad, and at Sport Photo Gallery, we're documenting the young star's rise to footballing fame. He could thrive there eventually but I think he is still working out when to hold on to the ball at City. It was different at Villa because he was their release man, and he had to carry the ball, draw opposition players towards him and get the team up the pitch. In the modern game, though, if you are playing in any of these positions, you have to be a goalscorer too and I think that is where Foden has the edge on everyone else I have spoken about, because he will go right into the six-yard box to get on the end of things. It's easy to see why it happened, because the game is different now. The pitches are beautiful, the rules have changed. Why would you lump the ball in the way we had to put up with? It would be sacrilege. Hoddle was one of the managers responsible for beginning the transformation of the Premier League into the competition it is today when he signed one of its first superstars, Ruud Gullit, for Chelsea in 1995. "I came because of Glenn," Gullit told the BBC in 2020. "In the eyes of the Dutch, he was the best English footballer ever." If, that is, he is selected – which is the clue to Foden’s status under Guardiola. This is a footballer who since his debut at 17 as a 75th-minute replacement against Feyenoord six years ago has won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, the Champions League and the Uefa Super Cup but is still to convince his manager he can be De Bruyne’s successor as the next dazzling star in a Guardiola constellation that features Messi (Barça, 2008-12), Götze (Bayern, 2013-16), and Silva (City, 2016-20).Pep Guardiola has given Phil Foden only a substitute’s role in many of their biggest games. Photograph: Dave Thompson/AP
For a period, with upheaval behind the scenes around his representation and outside distractions aplenty, City harboured concerns about a loss of focus but the Foden who has emerged this season is a different beast and there is excitement about what the next 12 to 18 months could bring. With three goals in five league starts against Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp knows only too well what a threat Foden routinely presents to his team. Foden was one of a contingent of City players at Manchester Arena for the Khan-Brook fight who had attended following their earlier 3-2 Premier League defeat by Tottenham.
With those players involved then, whoever the opposition, the right balance is there - I feel Rice will be hugely important to Foden's England career, and vice versa.
What De Bruyne, Grealish, Foden or Mount can do, which is to consistently create, is the toughest thing to do on a football pitch. Goalscoring is difficult too, of course, but if you are a number 10 now you have to score goals as well as make them. The pressure is always on them to produce something to change a game.It is company Foden wants and expects to keep and a category Guardiola, for one, has long felt the player would inhabit so long as there was no deviation in his appetite, application and ambition. Wall prints and custom sizing. Looking for something larger than life? We offer Phil Foden photos up to 90x60 inches in size, as well as full-sized wall prints. Create a feature wall in your home or workplace! As such, this was always going to be a big season for Foden. But, as he prepares for another meeting with Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime, he does so as one of Guardiola’s go-to men alongside Rodri and Erling Haaland. He has the possessed, appealingly arrogant look of a player who knows he is different and out to catapult himself into that rarefied sphere that always seemed his calling. We had our heads in the sand for a long time but, more than 30 years on, we have caught up with the rest of the continent. There are creative playmakers everywhere in the Premier League, and in the England team too. As Foden matures, I feel as if we are going to see him score a lot of goals for England as well as make them. I could be wrong, but it is going to be a lot of fun finding out.
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