admin
LONDON. — Phil Foden appeared primed to be the heir to David Silva’s central midfield throne at Manchester City when the Spaniard left the club last year, but the 21-year-old is excelling in an altogether different role for his side this season.
Again deployed in a wide forward position at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, Foden fired his second-ever top-flight double to help his side secure a 4-1 success, making him City’s top scorer in the English Premier League this season with three goals.
Stretching further back, no City player has scored more than Foden’s 20 goals since the start of last season across all competitions.
Foden is still more than capable of excelling as a central midfield playmaker, as he proved when impressing for England against Andorra in the position earlier this month, but it seems for City he can have a greater impact out wide.
“I’m enjoying it (the new position),” Foden told the BBC after his double against Brighton.
“I can drop deep and get the ball and pick the passes off. It’s a new role for me and I can say I’m really enjoying it.
“It changes game-to-game. Sometimes I stay higher than normal, but this game they went man-to-man so I dropped a bit deeper and I thought we used the extra man well.”
City coach Pep Guardiola was criticised for his sparing use of Foden in the early years of the youngster’s career, and once again remained reluctant to heap too much praise on the midfielder-forward.
“He can play left winger, which is a good position, and right winger, which is a good position for him,” Guardiola said.— AFP.
Online Reporter