Phil Foden's New Chapter with Manchester City: Aiming for Redemption
Phil Foden has never been shy about his bond with Manchester City. This summer, that loyalty cuts both ways.
On the back of two lean years and a 31-game goal drought for club and country, City have handed their homegrown midfielder a four-year contract and a central role in the Enzo Maresca era. Foden’s response is simple: it is time to pay them back.
“It has made me feel relaxed and I can just concentrate on being the best version of me and give back to the football club for them trusting in me,” he said, speaking in Hong Kong. “It is nice to see the support from the club and obviously it means a lot. It’s about time I try and repay them and give back to the club.”
From peak to pause
Two seasons ago, Foden stood at the summit of the English game. At 26, he hit 19 league goals in City’s 2023-24 title-winning campaign, sweeping up both the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year and the Premier League’s player of the season awards. He looked like the face of the next decade.
The numbers since then tell a different story. Ten goals last term, none in his past 31 outings across Manchester City and England. For a player who once seemed to glide through defences for fun, the rhythm deserted him.
City, though, never blinked. The new deal, tying him to Etihad Stadium until 2030, arrived despite the drought, not after it ended. It was a statement: they still see the same talent that first broke through as a 17-year-old under Pep Guardiola.
Across 369 appearances, Foden has helped deliver six Premier League titles, a Champions League and two FA Cups. That kind of résumé buys patience. It also creates expectation.
Life after Pep
Guardiola’s departure at the end of last season closed one of the defining chapters in City’s history. In his place, the club turned to a familiar figure. Enzo Maresca, once part of the academy setup and later an assistant with the first team, has come back to take the top job.
For Foden, that familiarity matters.
“Very good – a fresh start, a new manager and up to now, really enjoying it,” he said of his summer. “It is very strange but I know Enzo from before, so that also helps. I know him quite well and what [he] is about. That has definitely helped, to have that relationship with him.”
The bond has already been tested. Foden endured one of the toughest moments of his international career when he missed out on Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the 2026 World Cup. He had started the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain, but two years later watched from home as the Three Lions reached the semi-finals before losing 2-1 to Argentina.
He admitted it hurt to see his teammates line up for the national anthem without him. Maresca made sure he did not face that disappointment alone.
“He [Maresca] reached out just after to see if it was OK, which was very nice of him, to show us this character and the person he is,” Foden revealed. “He cares about everyone and wants to have a good relationship with the team.”
For a player coming off a season complicated by off-field issues and an ankle injury, that kind of backing is not trivial. Foden insists he is now “fully fit”. City will expect that to show.
Maresca’s project and Foden’s burden
Maresca will step into the technical area as City head coach for the first time in Saturday’s friendly against Inter Milan in Hong Kong. The surroundings are glamorous; the task is gritty.
City have lost not only Guardiola’s presence but also the experience of captain Bernardo Silva and England defender John Stones. Leadership, knowhow, dressing-room gravity – all gone in one summer. The gap is obvious. So is the opportunity.
Asked about Foden’s place in his plans, Maresca did not hide his intentions.
“Phil is very important, like the rest. Knowing Phil from years ago, I know how good he is,” the Italian said. “It is my duty to help him be the Phil we all want. First of all, to be happy and enjoy football is most important. If he feels good, he can help us win titles.”
That line – “the Phil we all want” – lingers. The version that darts between the lines, makes tight games bend to his will, and fills highlight reels as easily as he once filled stat sheets. The version that dominated a title race and walked away with the country’s biggest individual prizes.
Foden does not sound like a player running from that expectation. If anything, he leans into it.
Speaking at the launch of City’s new Puma away kit in Hong Kong, he was asked about the club’s prospects in this new, Guardiola-less landscape.
“I think we can win everything, but it’s obviously hard. We have still got an unbelievable team,” he said.
The words are bold, but this is Manchester City. They live in that space between ambition and obligation, where winning is not a dream but a demand.
The question now is whether their most gifted academy graduate can turn a fresh contract and a “fresh start” into something more tangible: goals, trophies, and a season that proves this was not the beginning of a gentle fade, but the start of a second peak.
