Manchester City sealed an emphatic third successive Carabao Cup victory on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, who put in a resilient second-half display. Pep Guardiola made some surprising choices for his starting eleven, one of which was Phil Foden, but the often elusive teenager mesmerised on his Wembley outing. With David Silva, who lined up alongside him, set to depart at the end of the season after more than a decade in Manchester, City will not need to worry about their impending European ban when sourcing a replacement to the Spaniard’s throne as creator extraordinaire.
Foden left the capital with not only the cup but a thoroughly deserved man of the match award to go along with it. He created Sergio Aguero’s opener to get the favourites off the mark, and then opened the opposition at will, with two key passes, and a 90.2 per cent pass accuracy, as per WhoScored. It was an astonishingly mature performance from a player whose game time at Manchester City has often come into question. Furthermore, it was perhaps fitting he should produce the outstanding display in the cup competition he has featured in most regularly, 12 appearances, throughout his brief career.
In total Foden has made 31 Premier League appearances throughout three seasons; however that does not paint the full picture as his average minutes during those displays is just over 20. His manager has confirmed that next season will be an enormous step up for the player as he fills Silva’s shoes, and his main challenge will be replicating the level of display he produced against Aston Villa week in, week out. But after years of teasing us with comments like Foden is the “most talented player” he has ever seen, across ten starts this term the 19-year-old has shown enough promise to indicate that Guardiola’s plans for the midfielder will come to fruition.
The gentle easing of Foden, rated £27m (Transfermarkt) could benefit the England youngster in a reverse Wayne Rooney scenario. England’s record goalscorer played a vast proportion of games in the embryonic stages of his career, and some believe he suffered a burnout for it later on. Having been nurtured into first team life at an incredibly slow pace, Foden looks set to adapt seamlessly to his first season as a regular and produce the dazzling displays in fewer fleeting glimpses for years to come.
