For several years, the relationship between Pep Guardiola and Phil Foden has been special. The coach pushes his player, whom he considers enormously, to the limit. But the Spaniard is on the lookout and doesn’t let anything slip by. So much so that he sometimes allows himself to reframe the young Englishman, sometimes a little too airheaded according to him. “I think Phil has a free instinct as a footballer. He’s not a player who thinks so much when he plays, he’s a bird: fly wherever you want. But he still has a step to take and duties to accomplish for the team.details the former coach of FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, particularly before the shock against the Gunners.
“Some players, for example Rico Lewis, it happens straight away. When he came into the game, I didn’t teach him anything, it came from his nature. But he doesn’t have a talent like Phil in other aspects – that’s normal and that’s good, footballers don’t copy and paste, it’s the way we connect them and that’s what which makes my work so fascinating. Phil played right, left, in the intervals; no problem. Could he finally play as a defensive midfielder? To do this, he must understand the game as a whole, not just ‘me’. As he grows he has to add things to his game.concluded Pep Guardiola, who still sees room for improvement in his player.
