- Only Ollie Watkins has scored more from open play than Phil Foden this season
- Foden is doing what he has always threatened to, entering a new stratosphere
- Phil Foden reveals what it’s REALLY like to play for Pep Guardiola in an It’s All Kicking Off special. Listen on Spotify, Apple or anywhere you get your podcasts
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Imagine if Phil Foden took penalties. Only Ollie Watkins has scored more from open play than Manchester City‘s No 47 this season.
Not Erling Haaland, not Cole Palmer, not Mohamed Salah. Foden is now doing what he has always threatened to, mining numbers from that innate ability they all saw in the academy and entering a whole new stratosphere.
Two more at Brighton on Thursday night helped Manchester City keep the destiny of this fascinating title race in their own hands and took Foden to 25 for club and country.
He goes to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, where a glaring miss in a February draw last season served to show there was much to learn when it came to honing a lethal edge at the crunch.
There is little chance of a Foden caught in two minds and dribbling into the goalkeeper should an opportunity arise at the City Ground this time.
The past five months have been the most productive of the 23-year-old’s career so far, an enhanced understanding of his role and a ruthlessness since Pep Guardiola called him out for a mistake in a draw against Crystal Palace.
Foden was City’s star as they won the Club World Cup soon after. His feet have barely touched the ground since.
Something truly clicked during that spell and he’s evolved from a player of great moments to a great player – the hardest transition to make.
And while his game is not all about goals, to put his exploits into context, in the years since his birth in May 2000, only one midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues has ever scored more non-penalties than his current tally.
That was Michael Ballack back in 2002, when Foden was being pushed along Edgeley high street in a buggy.
Twenty-six – three more from the spot – and Ballack’s season ended with Bayer Leverkusen’s fairytale Champions League adventure and Germany’s run to the World Cup final in South Korea.
Foden’s numbers are better than Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard. Better than Kaka, Kevin De Bruyne. Better – incredibly – than Yaya Toure’s haul during City’s 2014 title win, arguably the most incredible season by a central midfielder since the Premier League’s inception.
Now there is a debate about Foden’s position. An attacker? Not really. A midfielder? Not entirely. A bit of a hybrid. The game has changed and so have definitions and the numbers come with a slight caveat.
But watching him at Brighton, pirouetting on the halfway line to open the game up and create space for others, was to watch a man mastering midfield. It’s where he is most comfortable, most natural, and increasingly where Guardiola picks him.
It is not just the goalscoring feats for which Foden should be handed the Player of the Year award (which he modestly said should go to Rodri). It’s what he brings to games, the joy of his movement.
Yet the goals propel him to the top of potential winners. Ballack went on to win Footballer of the Year all those years ago. Suspended for the World Cup final, though. That is where Gareth Southgate will hope the similarities end.
