Finally, Phil Foden has the opportunity to become Pep Guardiola’s top player.

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Lionel Messi plays for Barcelona, Mario Götze for Bayern Munich, and David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne for Manchester City. Despite Pep Guardiola’s attempts to recruit Jude Bellingham for his fantasy football team, Bellingham chose Real Madrid instead. Can Phil Foden now step up and fill the role as Guardiola works to create another successful team?

On Saturday at 12:30pm, the 23-year-old will have his most recent audition as the treble winners take on Liverpool in the highly anticipated Premier League game of the season thus far.

If he is chosen, it will confirm Foden’s position in Guardiola’s plans. Foden is a football player who made his debut at 17 years old, coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute against Feyenoord six years ago. He has since won numerous titles including five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, the Champions League, and the Uefa Super Cup. However, he has yet to convince his manager that he can be the next shining star in Guardiola’s team, following in the footsteps of Messi (Barcelona, 2008-2012), Götze (Bayern Munich, 2013-2016), and Silva (Manchester City, 2016-2020).

De Bruyne is still in the midst of his career, but his recent hamstring injury suffered in the first minutes of the season against Burnley in August and subsequent surgery serves as a reminder to Guardiola that the 32-year-old is approaching the later stages of his career.

Guardiola’s strategy of building his top-performing teams around star players like Messi, Götze, Silva, and De Bruyne means that he disregards the use of rotation to foster competition and drive determination. These key players are rarely left out of important matches when they are in their prime form. In exchange, Guardiola expects these exceptional footballers to deliver results. The fact that Foden was not included in the starting lineups for last season’s victorious FA Cup and Champions League finals suggests that he has not yet convinced Guardiola that he can consistently be the one to secure City’s victories.

After a successful ten years at City, Silva was widely considered the club’s best football player. Now, three years later, De Bruyne’s consistently impressive performances make him a strong contender for that title. In January 2020, before Silva’s contract ended that summer, Guardiola expressed his confidence in Phil, stating that if they didn’t believe in him, they would have looked to the transfer market to replace David, but they have faith in Phil.

Guardiola still has Foden, but the previous season was his first without Silva, and there were doubts about his abilities as he was given less playing time. In the 2020-2021 season, Foden played a total of 3,373 minutes in 50 appearances, starting in 36 of them. He had 16 goals and 10 assists, both being career-high numbers. In the following season, he played 3,184 minutes, started in 36 games out of 45 appearances, and had 14 goals and 11 assists. However, in the most recent season, Foden’s playing time decreased significantly to 2,260 minutes and 29 starts. He only had eight assists but managed to score 15 goals in 48 appearances.

The player faced injury and illness, including a foot injury during a match against Manchester United in January and appendicitis in March, which caused him to miss two months of play. However, upon returning to full fitness, he was not chosen to play in the April Champions League quarter-final match against Bayern or the semi-final first leg against Real Madrid. He only came on as a substitute in the 84th minute in the return match against Madrid when Manchester City was already leading 3-0.

I have observed most of Foden’s performances while playing for City. It is hard to recall a time when he played poorly. Instead, the image that comes to mind is of his quick footwork, smooth touch, and clever vision, as well as his dynamic and powerful runs. Foden has stood out in many matches and has been a key player.

With De Bruyne in his pomp this is hardly shameful. And Foden is still only 23. Götze was 21 when Guardiola recruited him from Borussia Dortmund in what Dortmund’s then coach, Jürgen Klopp, later characterised as a fait accompli by describing the attacking midfielder as a “Pep Guardiola favourite”.

Foden has frequently played as a winger, which limits his ability to dictate the game compared to De Bruyne who, in the role of a central midfielder or attacking midfielder (especially last year), has been the primary orchestrator of City’s dynamic offense.

Can Foden take advantage of De Bruyne’s decreased resilience? Guardiola hopes so. In the 76th minute of the Cup final against Manchester United in June, De Bruyne was substituted and Foden took his place. A week later, when De Bruyne had to leave the game after 36 minutes in the Champions League final against Internazionale, Foden was once again called upon as his replacement.

Following Foden’s underwhelming performance in the 2021 final where City lost 1-0 to Chelsea, he had a chance to showcase his ability to excel in top-tier club competitions. However, despite being competent at the Ataturk Stadium, he did not deliver a standout performance. Some may argue that it is difficult to dominate against a strong team like Inter, but it simply highlights the necessity of being able to take control of a high-stakes game and dictate the outcome in one’s team’s favor.

Foden may have some time left, but it may not be as much as one would expect from a 23-year-old. If Bellingham had decided to join City, Foden’s chances of becoming a key player under Guardiola would have greatly diminished. This is evident from Bellingham’s impressive record of 13 goals in 14 appearances for Madrid at the age of 20.

Foden has made 235 appearances for City, scoring a total of 65 goals. Improving his finishing rate would strengthen his position. He will aim to do this on Saturday as Guardiola’s team, currently in first place, hosts second-place Liverpool managed by Klopp.

Initially, there will be a nervous anticipation to see his name listed on the roster. However, considering that Guardiola has selected Foden to begin 14 out of City’s 18 games this season, it is probable that he will take the field as part of the starting lineup. Afterwards, as his coach often remarks about all of his team members, it will be in his hands.

Source: theguardian.com