Speaking of competition: Foden naturally faces that at Man City too. And that goes against Guardiola’s earlier prediction. “He is the only player who must not be sold under any circumstances. Not even for 500 million euros,” Pep wrote in 2019 in his book “Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam” and made it clear: “Phil isn’t going anywhere. He is Manchester City. We won’t sign anyone to replace him.”
That was a fib, to say the least. After all, several players arrived – Ferran Torres (2020), Jack Grealish (2021), Jeremy Doku (2023), Savinho (2024) and, most recently, Rayan Cherki (2025) and Antoine Semenyo (2026) – who operate in a very similar role to Foden. Even last season, he was no longer in the starting line-up for 23 of his 49 competitive matches.
The remainder of the season – even though it can only bring silverware for City in the two cup competitions, given they are likely to miss out on the league and Champions League titles – will therefore be crucial for Foden. He can count himself lucky that Guardiola remains fond of him – even though he has lost importance to the team over the past few weeks.
“He is my son, he is our son,” said the Spaniard. “Step by step, he will come back. We are trying to protect him and get him back to his best. In an eight- or nine-year career, there are sometimes ups and downs. It’s as simple as that. I will not be the one to doubt Phil’s quality and his importance.”