Player Analysis: Phil Foden

Since its FA-approved inception in 1998, Manchester City’s academy has gone on to produce some great players. Players such as Micah Richards have gone on to cement a legendary status among the fanbase for their contribution to the club, while the likes of Jadon Sancho, Kieran Trippier and Kelechi Iheanacho have made their name elsewhere.

Of these, though, only Sancho comes close to the truly world-class level. The rest are great players in their own right, but they probably will never be the best in their position. There is one other academy graduate, however, who certainly has the potential to outshine even Sancho through the course of his career. His name is Philip Walter Foden.

Foden was born in Stockport, just a few miles southeast of the Manchester city centre. A boyhood Cityzen, his first steps into the Manchester City ranks came at the age of four. His ascent has been rapid since, with his first appearance in a senior matchday squad coming just at the age of 16. He soon became the first player born in the year 2000 to start a UEFA Champions League match, making his Premier League debut quickly thereafter in December 2017 and becoming the youngest-ever player to lift a Premier League trophy at the end of the season.

The fact that he was simply training with a squad including David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Agüero, Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling among others in his teenage years was crazy enough, but featuring in competitive football matches ahead of some of those players at times tells you all you need to know about his talents. Naturally, though, he did not get a lot of game time in his first years, causing many to question City and Pep Guardiola’s ways of developing such an obviously gifted player, with some calling for him to be sent out on loan.