Football fans and journalists are often guilty of over-hyping young footballers. A teenage player only needs to put in five or six good performances before people start putting their names forward as potential world-beaters. Only a handful of players ever make good on the promises that journalists make of them, and it’s rarely helpful to heap pressure on a youngster’s shoulders before they’ve had the chance to mature and develop their game. That being said, exceptions should always be made for exceptional players. Manchester City’s Phil Foden looks like he’s going to be one of those exceptions.
Foden’s name has been familiar to English football fans for such a long time that it’s sometimes hard to remember that he’s still only twenty years old. He’s been on the fringes of the Manchester City side for years, and spoken about in hushed tones by fans who’ve seen him perform for the youth team and the reserves. The 2020-2021 season has been his breakout year. He’s been so good that Raheem Sterling is struggling to find a place in Manchester City’s regular starting eleven. That would have been unthinkable twelve months ago.
What makes Foden so unique is that he’s very “un-English” as a player. Historically, English teams and fans have always favoured physically strong players who know how to play a direct style. That’s why players who break that mould sometimes struggle to establish themselves with the national side. Glenn Hoddle is one of the most supremely gifted footballers England ever produced. Matt Le Tissier barely got a look in for England. Even Paul Scholes, rated by his peers as the finest midfielder of his generation, was never comfortable in an England shirt. Paul Gascoigne managed to do it, but his off-field demons got the better of him. Foden already appears to be at home at the international level and doesn’t outwardly appear to suffer from the same issues that plagued Gascoigne.
Aside from a minor indiscretion involving breaking Covid restrictions during an England training camp in September, Foden appears to eschew the limelight away from the pitch. He couldn’t be more different from, for example, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese is unquestionably one of the best footballers ever to take to a pitch, but his preening and spotlight-chasing away from it occasionally becomes a distraction. Ronaldo is the face of the “Striker Goes Wild” online slots game at Rose Slots NZ. He has clothing ranges, fragrances, and commercial partners. Foden has none of those. A Phil Foden online slots game might go down well with fans of Manchester City, but he’s shown no signs of being interested in lending his likeness to one. There are enough connections between gambling and football without prominent players partnering with online slots websites as it is, but something about Foden tells us he’d never be interested. He’s focused on his football, and he’s rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about players in the world.
As was the case with Scholes, it’s often best to assess an English player’s true ability by listening to not what’s said about him within his own country but what’s said outside it. The English press will always over-hype a talented young player. When the Spanish and Italian press begins doing the same, there might be some fire to go with the smoke. Foden already has keen admirers abroad. One of them is Barcelona’s legendary defender Carlos Puyol, who tweeted his admiration for the attacking midfielder after his outstanding individual display in a 4-1 demolition of Liverpool in February. Prior to Manchester City’s recent Champions League semi-final victory over Paris Saint Germain, it was Foden that the French press was most wary of. In a team that contains Kevin de Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, and several other expensive world-famous names, that’s a huge compliment. Foden has the world at his feet, but is he ready to stand atop it?
Becoming world-famous as a great footballer is one thing. Becoming recognised as the very best in the world is quite another. The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is almost at an end now, and many young stars stand ready to seize their mantle. The most obvious is Kylian Mbappe of PSG, who’s shockingly still only 22 and already a World Cup winner. His talent is beyond doubt, but he’ll probably have to leave the French league if he wants to be recognised for his talents at the highest level. Ansu Fati at Barcelona is already being groomed as Messi’s replacement but has a long way to go at 18. Many of us still remember what happened to Bojan, who looked just as good at the same age. Gio Reyna’s reputation at Borussia Dortmund grows by the day. Dortmund has two other outstanding young players in Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho, both of whom are English. While we’re talking about Borussia Dortmund, any debate about future Ballon D’or winners would also have to include striker Erling Haaland. Times are changing in football, and Foden is one of many prodigiously gifted young players who could be the face of the new era.
Perhaps the key to all this is that Foden doesn’t appear to care. He doesn’t chase headlines or demand attention. He doesn’t hog the camera. He lets his football do the talking and has been well trained and protected by Pep Guardiola. The Spaniard has been the perfect role model for Foden and the best possible coach for him to learn from as he continues to develop his game. We’ve been here with 20-year-old English players before – Wayne Rooney still hasn’t quite been forgiven by fans in his home country for not turning out to be the English answer to Lionel Messi – but something feels different about the boy from Stockport. He, Bellingham, Sancho, and Chelsea’s Mason Mount are undoubtedly the future of English football and might finally bring glory to the national team after a barren period that’s lasted for generations, but will that be enough for him to be recognised as the world’s greatest? Time will tell, but there’s no better candidate on the scene at the moment. It’s our privilege to watch as his star rises.
