Any form of stick with which to beat Pep Guardiola is universally popular on these shores. When he first arrived, the calamitous errors as Manchester City played out from the back gave credence to claims he could not master the best league in the world, with the most vociferous naysayers labelling the former Barcelona boss a “fraud”.
As Guardiola turned things around to dominate English football, however, those jibes dispersed, only for the next supposed flaw in his approach to rear its ugly head.
Why was he refusing to give Phil Foden, one of England’s next great hopes, more game time? “Send him out on loan” came the cry. Then, as this season has worn on, there have even been rumours that Foden may leave in search of more regular first-team action.
Yet, there is no discontent, from either side. Foden loves City, loves Guardiola, and the feeling is very much reciprocated, to an extent where the pair will soon be sitting in a tree.
The reason Foden can put in dazzling displays like he did at the Etihad on Monday against Burnley is because of Guardiola’s nurturing of the 20-year-old, not in spite of it.
Foden is seen as the long-term successor to the outgoing David Silva, so much so that Silva has taken to giving Foden individual training sessions to mould him into El Mago 2.0. While Silva is there, simply sitting and watching how the veteran goes about his business will only enhance Foden’s game yet further.
Monday night also makes the loan move talk all the more churlish. There is no better environment in which to learn than on the immaculate training pitches of the City Football Academy, under the tutelage of one of the best coaches in history, with one of the best playmakers of all time telling you how to be like him.
Normally in England, if a young player is good enough, he will be thrown into the first-team straight away, and before you know it 60-game seasons for club and country become the norm.
Foden is seen as a bright future hope for England, but what many do not realise is that Guardiola, by integrating Foden slowly into the rigours of top-level football, could in fact be prolonging Foden’s international career.
Wayne Rooney was playing for club and country two or three times a week from the age of 18, but as England flopped in tournament after tournament, questions were asked as to whether the likes of Rooney and Harry Kane were burnt out after playing such long seasons.
Rooney, after a non-stop playing schedule, did not have the longevity of others, leaving Manchester United to sit on the Everton bench at 31, perhaps because he had been worn into the ground.
Guardiola does not think like this. He has plenty of options in Foden’s creative midfield role. He knows Foden is good enough, and he will get the games under his belt, but all in good time.
“The way City have used him should be commended not criticised,” former England youth coach Neil Dewsnip, who worked with Foden at various youth levels, tells i. “They work very strongly as a team at City, from academy manager Jason Wilcox, through the director of football, and ultimately then to the manager.
“Phil was part of an incredibly gifted frontline for England U20s at the World Cup. Phil, Rhian Brewster, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Emile Smith-Rowe and Jadon Sancho, and he has been part of an England set-up for some time that is starting to bear fruit, with talented youngsters becoming key members of first teams.
“He will benefit from having been part of this process as well as being in the City academy. He is still developing physically, transferring from young man into a man. That is being handled very carefully to ensure he can have a long career.”
And the long game is what England and City fans will benefit from. City are not looking to buy a successor to David Silva – they have one, one they have integrated slowly, and one who will almost certainly prove those Guardiola doubters wrong once more.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3fXSgd8
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