Does Phil Foden's future belong in midfield for England and Manchester City?

Phil Foden
(Image credit: Getty)

Phil Foden was the wide receiver in one game and the quarterback in the next. He was the runner off the ball who used his pace to materialise in scoring positions in Manchester City’s draw at Anfield. He was the deep-lying distributor in England’s thrashing of Andorra, spraying diagonal balls with enviable ease, chipping passes over his hosts’ defence with incisive excellence. In a game when Sam Johnstone got as many assists as Foden, there was no doubt who the most creative player actually was. Successive matches showed the range of skills that make him a remarkable talent.

Gareth Southgate was rewarded for his experimentation, injecting a routine win with interest value, offering an enticing glimpse of the future. The England manager’s fondness for two defensively-minded midfielders means that, against superior opposition, he is always likely to field a pair from Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson and James Ward-Prowse; if a prodigy is summoned for such duties, it will be Jude Bellingham, rather than Foden.

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Richard Jolly

Richard Jolly also writes for the National, the Guardian, the Observer, the Straits Times, the Independent, Sporting Life, Football 365 and the Blizzard. He has written for the FourFourTwo website since 2018 and for the magazine in the 1990s and the 2020s, but not in between. He has covered 1500+ games and remembers a disturbing number of the 0-0 draws.