Phil Foden could run away with the season: Neil Humphreys
Best young player in the English Premier League finds his best form at the best time
Phil Foden's social media post was just perfect. It really was a tale of two cities.
On the left, there was the Manchester City supporter, the local boy and academy prospect, playing ball boy in 2014.
| SWANSEA | MANCHESTER CITY |
On the right, there was the Manchester City midfielder, hammering the ball into the top corner and humiliating the league champions in 2021.
From boy to man in two photographs, Foden seems ready to evolve again. He's becoming a leader of men, threatening to run away with this season.
Still only 20, his tender career has already been built on toppled obstacles, real or imagined.
According to cliche, he wasn't supposed to get this far. Foden was surely destined to go the same way as Jadon Sancho, the City prospect who couldn't see a pathway in a crowded field of superstars.
Ready-made foreigners came first at impatient clubs like City. Foden was never going to come to the fore.
Such cynical thinking was brushed aside.
Plus, Foden's age and inexperience suggested lengthy spells on the bench and the odd cup appearance as Pep Guardiola persevered with the status quo. There was an established pecking order.
That established pecking order was brushed aside.
Instead, Foden prepares for Swansea City in the FA Cup fifth round tomorrow morning (Singapore time) and the prospect of a domestic treble.
In a pivotal season for the Guardiola era, Foden has featured in 17 English Premier League games, created 23 chances, completed 465 passes, scored five goals and set up three others.
And yet, the concept of an all-rounder scarcely does him justice. He glides where others gallop. In a single, graceful move, he can show the lightest of touches and then unleash a left foot that seems dipped in gunpowder.
The goal frame itself was practically brushed aside when he wrapped up a 4-1 victory at Anfield on Monday morning with a thunderous strike.
Earlier, Foden collected possession and confronted Jordan Henderson, title-winning skipper, and Andy Robertson, the most consistent left-back of the last three years.
The Liverpool players were, inevitably, brushed aside.
Foden sees intimidating obstacles as the mildest of distractions, allowing him to make the dramatic leap from bit-part academy graduate to the best young player in England with no fanfare, at least on his part.
Gary Neville, swallowing his tribal prejudices, recognises that Foden may soon play Paul Scholes to Guardiola's Sir Alex Ferguson.
The comparison fits. Like Scholes, Foden seems to be a poster boy for the anti-hype footballer. The more he improves, the less famous he seems to become, a bizarre, paradoxical position that he obviously cultivates.
Guardiola calls him "football mad". The local lad has no apparent interests beyond a relentless drive to excel. It's not a bad philosophy, to be like Scholes. It didn't do the former United midfielder any harm.
Intriguingly, Scholes also went from supporting foreign icons (Eric Cantona) to carrying United towards Treble-winning glory in just a few years. Foden's career is following a similar trajectory.
A third City title in four years will elevate the club into the highest ranks of dynasty, a status that only a handful of clubs have reached in any era.
Only this time around, Foden is very much at the centre of City's universe, benefiting from the most talented support bubble in European football.
City scored four goals at Anfield for the first time since 1937 without the injured Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. On the bench, Aymeric Laporte, Kyle Walker, Fernandinho, Ferran Torres and Benjamin Mendy were not even called upon.
Playing just behind Foden, Ilkay Guendogan scored twice, making it nine league goals since Dec 1. No other EPL player has scored more in that period.
Guardiola has patiently surrounded his young midfielder with unprecedented strength in depth, nurturing him alongside footballers in the form of their lives.
The patience paid off.
Walking with giants has turned Foden into one. And he may go on to become the biggest of them all.
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