In the early morning of October 15, Premier League giants Manchester City officially announced that his contract with team leader Phil Fordon will be renewed until 2027, and his weekly salary will also increase from the previous 40,000 pounds to 225,000 pounds, a surge of more than 5 times. This news also gave Manchester City fans a reassurance.
22-year-old Phil Foden joined Manchester City youth training at the age of 9 and is now the player who has played for the longest time in Manchester City. After being promoted to Manchester City's first team, Foden has played in 182 games for the team, with 52 goals and 36 assists, and won 11 official championship trophys with the team, including 4 Premier League, 1 FA Cup , 4 League Cup and 2 Community Shield Cups. At the national team level, Foden played 18 times for England, contributing 2 goals and 6 assists. Now it is the absolute main force under Southgate. Judging from his career, Fordon has been accompanied by noble people all the way, and the smooth flow has made countless professional players envious.
Fuden's father and brother are Manchester United fans, but he has been a Manchester City fan since he was a child. When Sun Jihai played for Manchester City, Foden was in the same frame as him as an caddie and walked into the stadium together. In 2009, 9-year-old Foden successfully joined Manchester City's youth training. It was that summer that the Mansour Consortium spent 200 million pounds to acquire Manchester City, bringing the old team back to life. At the same time, Manchester City has also begun to increase its investment in youth training, spending 200 million pounds to build the Manchester City Youth Training Academy (CFA) with super-class facilities. In such an environment, Foden is naturally as if he is in water. In turn, he has outstanding football talent and has become one of the best business cards for Manchester City's youth training, and is known as the three best Manchester City youth training masters together with Sancho and Brahm Dias.
After that, Sancho and Dias left Manchester City early, while Foden chose to stick to it. On the one hand, it was because of his infinite love and loyalty to the team, and the most important thing was that he met Guardiola's mentor. In the summer of 2017, Foden officially advanced to Manchester City's first team, which was also Guardiola's second year in coaching Manchester City. Guardiola praised this Manchester City young player who was only 17 years old at the time, and even called him the most talented player he had ever seen. You should know that before this, Guardiola had coached a superstar like Messi and . His appreciation for the Manchester City prince is evident.
Of course, Guardiola's care for Foden is not only verbally, but is reflected in actual actions. He rejected the request of several clubs to buy or rent Foden and insisted on keeping Foden in the formation. But at the same time, Guardiola is not in a hurry to give Foden too much playing time, but allows him to grow up slowly in the joint training with world-class midfielders such as de Bruyne and David Silva, and experience his tactical philosophy personally. In the 2017/18 season, Foden only played 10 games in various competitions, scored 1 assist, and made 5 substitutes in the Premier League. In terms of the stadium position, Guardiola did not arrange for Foden to play the midfield where he was good at, but asked him to try multiple positions. In recent years, Foden has played as a winger, a wing forward and a pseudo-center, and even played as a wingback in some key games. This multi-position attempt makes his skills more comprehensive and his understanding of football is deeper.
Fourden's luck is that he not only met Guardiola's mentor, but also met big brothers who took good care of him, such as Aguero , De Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Gundo and Fernandinho . In the years when Guardiola was coaching Manchester City, the Blue Moon League has the most harmonious locker room atmosphere in the Premier League. All the main players in the team have gentle tempers and easy to get along with. If Foden does not grow quickly in training games in such a team, it would be strange if he does not grow quickly.
2020/21 season, Manchester City began to play the frontless formation due to Aguero's long-term injury. In this tactical system, Foden, who had delicate skills and excellent passes and shots, was like a fish in water. That season, he played in 50 games in various competitions, scoring 16 goals and 10 assists, creating a new high in the number of appearances, goals and assists in a single season. With the team, he won the Premier League championship and entered the Champions League final. In the left winger position, Foden played a world-class performance and successfully squeezed another Guardiola favorite Sterling to the bench, which also laid the foreshadowing for Sterling's departure this summer.
This season, Manchester City welcomed the joining of Haaland . Although Foden was a little uncomfortable with the arrival of this peer at first, he quickly adjusted and became the best partner of Haaland's forward. In the first leg of the Premier League with Manchester United, two young men born in the 2000s both scored hat tricks, helping Manchester City beat their city opponents 6-3, and also making the Etihad Stadium a sea of joy. It is worth mentioning that in the game, 2 of Foden's three goals were from Haaland's assists. After enjoying the care of his big brother, he began to find warmth in his peers.
Now, Foden has successfully renewed his contract, and his post-00s forward combination with Haaland and Alvarez is exciting. Of course, what Manchester City fans are more looking forward to is that Foden one day takes over the banner from De Bruyne and becomes the leader in Manchester City's midfield.
