Wright-Phillips Backs Foden To Get Return To His Best Form

Last year was one to forget for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. For the first time since the 2016/17 campaign, City finished a season without winning any major silverware. They were knocked out of the Champions League in February by Real Madrid and lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace - marking Guardiola’s first back-to-back final defeats in the same competition.

City also ended the Premier League season in third place with 71 points. Guardiola described it as a season of learning, one overshadowed by a season-ending injury to Rodri and a loss of form from talisman Phil Foden.

As they look to bounce back, City will need a revitalised Foden ahead of the World Cup next summer. They will also have to manage a top-heavy squad, which could mean one or two departures for players deemed surplus to requirements. We caught up with former Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to discuss the importance of Foden’s return to form – and the future of James McAtee.

Will the Foden of Old Return This Season?

Speaking of seasons to forget, Phil Foden will be glad the last campaign is behind him. He will now focus on rediscovering the form that saw him sweep the board the season before, winning the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year, and the Etihad Player of the Season award.

That year, Foden was instrumental in City’s title win - scoring 19 Premier League goals and providing eight assists, including two goals in the final game against West Ham. Across all competitions, he contributed directly to 39 goals, scoring 27 and assisting 12 in 53 matches.

Last season, however, was a different story. Following a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign, Foden’s dip in form contributed to City’s struggles. With the World Cup on the horizon, he’ll be aiming to get back to his best - something Wright-Phillips believes will be helped if City as a whole can stabilise.

"It's important that Foden re-finds his form. If he gets that form back, then it's important to the team of course. But when the team is playing well in general across the board, you naturally do that anyway, because there's more space available for him."

Foden has made receiving the ball in half-spaces before shooting on goal one of his trademarks, and Wright-Phillips says he’s seen encouraging signs at the Club World Cup.

"He's so good in those little tight pockets and areas, taking the ball on the back foot and driving at people. I saw that in the Club World Cup, the games that he played, you saw there were elements coming back, he was causing a lot of problems. The goal that he scored after taking that pass from Cherki was excellent. He just needs to carry on with that, and the goals would have helped his confidence more than anything else. Hopefully it will run into the season."

"Not only that, the signings that have come in have meant the competition for places has gone up. All of them have amazing qualities and they're going to be pushing each other and you'll need to perform if you want to start back-to-back games."

McAtee Needs Game Time

James McAtee is reportedly attracting interest from Tottenham, who have lost James Maddison for much of next season after an ACL injury in pre-season. McAtee impressed in spells last season but struggled for minutes and will now be seeking regular football.

"In terms of James McAtee, he's still proving a point. So he should be looking at clubs that are either fighting for Europe or are in those places."

"Being at City, he's going to want to play Champions League football, so I can imagine Bayer Leverkusen would've been perfect for him, especially with Florian Wirtz and all the other players leaving. There's a little element in there for him to go in and shine. But then I saw something come out about him wanting to stay in England. I'm waiting for him to see where he goes but as a young player, he should move on and go and play because he should be getting more game time."

Wright-Phillips says McAtee’s biggest challenge at City is the presence of other former academy products in similar positions.

"He's in a battle cause it's different from when I was coming through. When I was coming through, you would find the players you were coming up against were somehow towards the back end of their career. Whereas now, you think about Phil Foden winning Player Of The Year, he's arguably been at his peak for the last five years. McAtee and him are at similar age groups. So if Phil keeps up at that level, McAtee has to do better than him and he's not always going to get the game time."

"So, I think he should go and express himself, like how Cole Palmer did, go and show the world what you're capable of, cause everybody knows you're capable of a lot of amazing things."

With Foden currently priced at 50/1 to get the most assists in the Premier League this season, you can use our bet365 bonus code to work out possible winnings if you back the 25-year-old to revive his City career.

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