Talk of the ball controversy from the Carabao Cup tie against Wolves in midweek might have threatened to overshadow Claudio Bravo’s goalkeeping heroics but one player who might have featured in that game was instead helping England’s U17 side beat Brazil 3-1 in the U17 World Cup semi-final.
And instead of a place in the match day squad at West Brom tomorrow, Phil Foden will instead be lining up in a World Cup final for England against Spain’s U17 side in Kolkata.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has praised the young midfielder in the past but is careful to protect a talent he has called a ‘gift’ after taking him on City’s pre-season tour of America in the summer.
He said: “Phil is a special player. In the national team the manager played him at wing-back and and winger on the right and even in that position he played good.
“It’s always dangerous to speak good things about young players because they are still young and still need to grow and learn many things.
“He’ll learn a lot at the World Cup but we have a lot of confidence to help him because we believe he has a lot of potential. He’s not strong or tall but he has a lot of potential to be helped.”
Phil Foden and the players on the fringe of the Manchester City first team
Foden was joined in the semi-final winning team by City team mates Curtis Anderson in goal, and by captain Joel Latibeaudiere in central defence but Guardiola also praised two further players – Tosin Adarabioyo (who looked comfortable in the 4-1 penalty shootout win against Wolves) and Brahim Diaz who would have played but was injured.
Guardiola also said that he preferred for City’s youth players to get experience in a World Cup rather than play in their usual Premier League 2 Competition which he deemed as being far below the standard required to test them for inclusion in Premier League squads.
He said: “Phil, like Brahim [Diaz], is training with us, as well as Tosin [Adarabioyo]. Joel came sometimes to make training sessions and help us a lot.
“They had the opportunity to play the previous game against Wolves with us but we believe when these guys have an opportunity to play in a World Cup against Spain, Germany, Brazil and Italy in India is an amazing opportunity for them.
“The young players like Phil Foden will play when they deserve to. It’s up to them [to show] their quality and it’s up to us to help them develop. They are 17 years old and they are training with our team.
“The problem in England is that the second team competition is not that high. The gap between the second teams and the highest levels is big. That’s something that we’ll work at but its good for them to go to the U17 World Cup to help them develop.
“We have no doubts about the quality of guys like Phil Foden but we must be calm and take things step by step.”