While not unique to football’s historical homeland, demanding that the best player has to play in central midfield is a particularly English obsession.
The football culture that has given us Bryan Robson, Steven Gerrard and Roy of the Rovers is in thrall to the idea of the box-to-box superhero, the dominant everyman who can bend games to their will.
Before dismissing this phenomenon out of hand, it’s worth acknowledging that Jude Bellingham is working through the fantastical playbook most weeks at Real Madrid. But it can become pretty tiresome and, in some cases, a bit silly.
Take Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example. The lavishly gifted Liverpool player took his game to the next level in 2023, roving into midfield from right-back to help create chances and dictate games for Jurgen Klopp’s rejuvenated team.
The upshot has been calls for him to play as a starting midfielder for Liverpool and England. Maybe just leave Alexander-Arnold to do what he’s been doing incredibly well from his main position and leave the orthodox midfield positions to someone else.
Phil Foden has been the subject of similar clamour ever since he came through Manchester City’s youth system, dubbed “The Stockport Iniesta” and anointed as David Silva’s heir apparent.
In his forthcoming book documenting Pep Guardiola’s time at City, biographer Marti Perarnau recounts a conversation he had with the coach in October 2016.
“People have spoken to me a lot about Jadon Sancho and Brahim Diaz, and yes they are very good. So good. I love them. But remember this other name: Phil Foden,” he said.
“I’m not lying to you, he’s awesome. He’ll play with me very soon. He’s an English player, very English, left foot, pale, thin as a rake, bow-legged, but he protects the ball superbly and has great vision. Foden, remember the name. He will be a beast.”
How many trophies has Phil Foden won?
These words have proved prophetic, with Foden a key component of Guardiola’s City team that has dominated English football over the past half-decade. His medal haul includes five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four Carabao Cups. The 23-year-old’s goal in City’s 4-0 win over Fluminense last month helped to secure a Club World Cup success to sit alongside the UEFA Champions League and Super Cup triumphs during a historic 2023.
However, unlike pretty much any other player to have achieved such an astonishing honours list at a young age, there is sometimes a perverse sense of Foden being yet to truly arrive. This comes down to him having played the majority of his top-level football away from what is viewed as his natural position.
The future superstar Guardiola identified progressed through City’s academy system as a central attacking midfielder. When he broke into the first-team squad, the likes of Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva meant that was a position stacked with high-quality talent.
While Foden’s well-documented status as a lifelong City fan will have played a part in him not following Sancho and Diaz in seeking opportunities elsewhere, his versatility was also a virtue. A breakout display when he was named man of the match in the 2020 Carabao Cup final against Aston Villa came from the right wing. In the following 2020/21 season, Foden dazzled as a destructive left winger as City romped to glory in the Premier League, collected another Carabao Cup and reached the Champions League final.
The failure to secure Harry Kane as a replacement for Sergio Aguero in 2021/22 saw Guardiola operate frequently with a false-nine setup and Foden often thrived as the central attacker. Indeed, it was a little jarring to see such a phenomenal talent on the outside looking in as City won the treble last season. Ill-timed niggling injuries and a shift in Guardiola’s tactical setup to accommodate Erling Haaland meant Foden was frequently out of the starting XI for the first time since the coronavirus shutdown when it came to the biggest games.
What happened to Kevin De Bruyne?
They don’t come any bigger than the Champions League final and it felt like a watershed moment when De Bruyne pulled up with a first-half hamstring injury against Internazionale in Istanbul and Foden came on in his place. He was one of City’s better players in the tense 1-0 win and almost brought the house down with a second goal having sent Federico Dimarco to Nevizade Street for a shish kebab.
A more serious recurrence of De Bruyne’s injury during the opening Premier League game of this season against Burnley required surgery, creating another vacancy for Foden. In the next match against Newcastle, roving in off the right with Kyle Walker overlapping from fullback, he created seven chances including Julian Alvarez’s excellent winner.
That was all it took for widespread demands that Foden play in a dream England midfield three alongside Bellingham and Declan Rice. When he didn’t in a listless 1-1 draw away to Ukraine, Gareth Southgate had questions to answer.
“He doesn’t [play centrally] for his club,” the England manager responded tersely. “Presumably there is a reason for that. It depends on the level of the game. In the middle of the park, everyone wants to talk about the ‘with the ball’ but there is a lot of detail without the ball. You have to be spot-on with pressing angles, your responsibilities and if you don’t, you don’t get the flow of the game.
“You’d have to speak to Pep, who is the best coach in the world, who plays him from wide. He’s always got the freedom to drift if we play him wide. That’s important.”
Much as this chafed for Foden’s admirers, Southgate was on solid ground because, on several occasions throughout his career, Guardiola has agreed. Going back to his analysis of the 16-year-old Foden, the City manager’s remarks that he is “an English player, very English” feels like it refers to the player’s fearless directness in possession, always looking to beat an opponent, play a killer pass or both.
This is why people love watching Foden in full flight, none more so than Guardiola. However, it can mean needlessly turning over possession when the game-breaking plays doesn’t come off. For a coach who craves control, this is far from ideal.
Gundogan was a master in this regard, as was David Silva before him. Bernardo has added Guardiola’s cherished pausa to his game having predominantly played as a right winger at Monaco. A source close to Guardiola and his staff told The Sporting News earlier this season that there were doubts over whether Foden would be able to truly develop this side of his game, having failed to do so when training alongside “three of the best possible teachers”.
It should be added that Foden’s ample qualities when it comes to vertical, quick and direct play meant this was not viewed as a problem. Guardiola would simply understand his homegrown star as a footballer who expresses himself and does not play contrary to natural instincts.
Is Phil Foden playing in midfield this season?
Injuries and uneven form continued to hinder City’s season and, when Haaland pulled up with a foot problem after the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa in December, Guardiola had a problem. Alvarez, who has largely filled in for De Bruyne as City’s direct attacking midfielder, reverted to centre-forward and it was time to unleash Foden as an attacking No. 8.
His haphazard concession of possession and then a rash tackle to try to retrieve the situation handed Crystal Palace a stoppage-time penalty and a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last month. Had injuries not remained a factor, it might have been the end of the experiment.
But in the Club World Cup final against Fluminense, away to an in-form Everton and at home to a deep-lying Sheffield United, Foden was exceptional in central areas when faced with three very different challenges.
His goal against Fluminense was followed by a venomous equaliser against Everton, where he was man of the match in a 3-1 victory. Against the Blades, he had 101 touches, completed 83 of 85 passes and laid on Alvarez’s game-sealing goal in a 2-1 win.
According to Opta, Foden astonishingly created more chances against Everton and Sheffield United (nine) than he misplaced passes (five) — a sign that the tempo-controlling side of his game is coming along. This would certainly be a boon for Guardiola and Southgate for the seven months ahead.
This weekend, against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, De Bruyne could make his first competitive appearance since August. The Belgian maestro’s return might mean a return to the wing for Foden, but it shouldn’t.
Selecting both Foden and De Bruyne as his central pair in front of Rodri would be a departure for Guardiola, but on the first weekend of the season, he selected the even more attack-minded Alvarez alongside the 32-year-old. That was perhaps a specific plan for Burnley’s man-to-man approach, but City pulled the Clarets apart from 20 minutes in before something similar happened to De Bruyne’s hamstring fibres.
The source who spoke to The Sporting News earlier in the season also outlined a key mantra for Guardiola when it comes to team-building. “Good footballers always find a way to coexist within the team.”
Guardiola clearly put this into practice last season. It was hardly his long-term Cruyffian plan to turn up at the Champions League final playing four central defenders, but circumstances and form over the course of the season pointed him in this direction. He is an expert when it comes to taking the pulse and temperature of his team before deciding upon the best medicine.
Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish are exemplary when it comes to providing control and ball retention on the flanks, so this would not be a City team with the handbrake off if De Bruyne and Foden play inside them.
Newcastle (ninth) and Chelsea (10th) are the only top-half Premier League teams they will play before a pivotal March 9 trip to Anfield. It’s time to let Foden finally step into David Silva’s shoes alongside De Bruyne, doing the job his way. Some things are worth obsessing over.