New position, new inner circle, new man: How Foden got back to the top

Not so long ago, there was one of those fluorescent player of the match trophies sat on a ledge around the Etihad Stadium’s tunnel area for months on end. Nobody touched it, nobody claimed it.

It just remained there. Unmoved, unloved. The weeks and games went by, hundreds of footballers wandering past. Set some music in the background and it would have looked at home as the protagonist in a morose Christmas advert.

Working out who was its rightful owner should not have been too challenging, given these awards are only commissioned by the Premier League for televised matches.

They do not grace the Saturday 3pm kick-offs, apparently for budgetary reasons. Phil Foden has never understood this. He likes to hoard the trophies at home and is bewildered whenever one isn’t available. That was the case last month, when his brace – goals in the first and last minutes – against Leeds United came during the blackout.

Foden asked where the award was, pestering amused staff. They are beginning to hear more of that at the moment because the 25-year-old’s resurgence, emerging from the wreckage of last season, is becoming a major story of Manchester City’s campaign. To illustrate that, the header against Sunderland on Saturday, meeting Rayan Cherki’s exquisite rabona cross, nudged Foden (109) ahead of Kevin De Bruyne (108) in City’s list of all-time goalscorers.   

Providing he does sign a new contract – there’s 18 months left on his current deal and sources say talks are yet to begin – then Eric Brook’s 177 ought to be in sight. That’ll nestle him under just the current holder Sergio Aguero (260) and, barring disaster, Erling Haaland (145 not out).

Five goals in a week – two against Leeds, two at Fulham before that header against Sunderland – have put a different slant on his form to those on the outside but Foden’s displays have been consistently excellent this term. 

The way he made both goals against Everton in October, without registering an assist, provided a perfect example of a growing influence in a deeper midfield role.

‘Phil will be like a good wine,’ Pep Guardiola said. ‘With time he will get better.’ He discombobulated the Toffees that day with switches of play. Statistics show Foden is utilising those far more this season, pointing to a greater responsibility in getting City moving.

Since Guardiola has pushed Foden slightly further forward in what feels like a lopsided attacking shape, the goals are flowing. And there would be no surprise if we witnessed more of those trademark strikes from the edge of the box, just as he’s done in title deciders and at the Bernabeu in the past. 

Foden’s role at Real Madrid during Wednesday’s victory focused more on occupying space and making Aurelien Tchouameni think twice before engaging higher up the pitch.

City are asymmetrical by design at the moment, Foden often positioned further right of a traditional central midfielder but more infield than a winger, and those are the areas in which he thrives. 

The tactical bits are helping him – Guardiola said after that Everton performance that while his knitting of the game was great, the main aim is to get him up alongside Haaland – but there has also been a distinct shift in Foden’s mood.

It’s undeniable, unquestionable. Those who know him say that he is a completely different person to earlier in the year. Foden’s brain had become foggy during training sessions and stopped him from carrying on, he endured mental health problems. City offered an armoury of psychological expertise and tests. 

It’s not taboo, it happens across industries, in every walk of life. Just this occupation involves running around in front of 55,000 people twice a week.

Something on Saturday summed up the difference between then and now. After the win, Foden told Guardiola that he had felt unwell all day. ‘Look what happened – how he runs,’ Guardiola said. 

‘Phil, when he’s in this momentum, in this mood, he is a gift. He is a diamond.’ Last year, he probably wouldn’t have made it out onto the pitch when he was under the weather.

Foden has made changes to his inner circle this year, signing with Jonny Hatt’s Hattrick Management and then beginning individual coaching sessions with Jamie Reynolds across the summer. 

Reynolds has long been associated with Jack Grealish and keeps Foden ticking over without impinging on City’s training programmes.

The City midfielder is settled near Northwich in the Cheshire suburbs with his long-term girlfriend Rebecca Cooke and their three young children, the oldest of whom, Ronnie, has become something of an internet sensation courtesy of his videos on Instagram where he has an astonishing 4.2million followers. 

Those close to Foden insist that there hasn’t been any single thing that prompted the upturn. But there is an acceptance that last year was not merely a dip in a young player’s career, because he’s had those before.

Slowly, surely, he has felt better and often that is difficult to quantify. Just being able to jump out of bed or crack a funny in the dressing room. One day becomes two, two to three and as City steadily improved their results, the weight pressing hard against Foden has lifted. He’s laughing that a change in hairstyle has acted as the catalyst for this form. 

Sources say Guardiola is due credit for some of this. City held sheets around Foden to protect him as much as they could and the manager is at the forefront of that. ‘He’s put an arm around the shoulder,’ one source said, believing there is a paternal relationship. 

Foden seems to agree with that, once remarking to Daily Mail Sport that ‘the manager sometimes thinks I’m that little boy, which I don’t mind’. Coincidentally, Guardiola used that exact language recently, praising the ‘ambition and mentality he has had since he was a little boy’ in a press conference.

The thing is, Guardiola knows exactly what Foden was like as a little boy because on day one in 2016, Txiki Begiristain marched him over to the academy pitches to watch their special talent, who was particularly small.

The idiosyncratic nature of the Catalan’s management is all Foden has ever known and the pair do have an understanding. Foden wants to take on a more significant leadership role and with a freer, clearer mind, that feels like a natural progression.