Pep Guardiola details two key factors behind recent Phil Foden omission

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed two key reasons for Phil Foden’s recent lack of game time.

The 22 year-old has made just five starts for the Blues since the FIFA World Cup but could make his 200th Manchester City appearance this weekend, when Pep Guardiola’s side travel to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth.

Foden, who scored a memorable hat-trick against Manchester United in October, has 10 direct goal involvements in the league so far this season – scoring seven and assisting three goals.

The Englishman has scored just one goal this calendar year though, and has struggled with both injury and illness, recently missing the Blues’ defeat to Tottenham in North London due to being unwell.

Foden started against Nottingham Forest last weekend, but was an unused substitute in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League.

Ahead of this weekend’s Premier League meeting with Bournemouth, Pep Guardiola provided some insight into Foden’s recent omissions, highlighting two key factors; injury struggles and the form of Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez.

“He has to be himself. I saw other players better than him, in terms of after the World Cup, he struggled with an ankle (problem) after the World Cup, and a lot,” said Guardiola.

“He played an incredible effort playing with pain. He arrived in one moment saying, ‘Pep, I cannot anymore! So I have to rest, I have to recover, and we gave him a long time ago, I think one week, two weeks off.

“And after (that), Riyad (Mahrez) was in his best moment of the season, Jack (Grealish) made a step forward… If you pretend to say that I’ve lost trust with Phil, forget about it. Phil is our diamond.

“Some players after the World Cup struggled a little bit. Other ones no, but there are players that struggled a little bit. And I think all the clubs, a little bit.

“I think Phil as well, partly due to the physical situation. But he comes in at the best part of the season, and always I said to him, ‘The best part is here. You are so young, next season is a new one’. You drop a little bit in comparison to the previous one? It’s absolutely a normal process.

“How do you handle it? This is the question. Handle it good? Still training as an animal because Phil in that is no doubt about that, and he will be back.

“He was back against Nottingham – it was brilliant, honestly, it was perfect. Just continue.”

Foden was named the PFA Young Player of the Year for a second successive season in June, after helping Manchester City successfully retain their Premier League crown.

The Englishman was also part of Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, as the Three Lions suffered quarter-final defeat to France.

Mahrez and Grealish have recently both bounced into form, with the latter currently enjoying his best spell since signing from Aston Villa.

Asked whether the form of the pair could lead to a change in position for Foden, Guardiola said: “No, no, I want Phil to push them.”

“Of course, Phil can play in the middle, in more central positions. It’s not about lack of confidence or whatever I thought a lot about putting Phil on in the last 20/25 minutes to make his impact. Always in the past, always he had. This season, a little bit less when he came from the bench.

“Phil since he arrived at 17/18/19 years-old, he played five minutes and it was the best five minutes in the team. This season was not like that, I think he struggled a lot from the ankle (problem).

“I was thinking a lot to put him in (against RB Leipzig), but in that moment I felt the team came back to what we had in the first-half. That’s why I didn’t want to move it. That was the reason why. Of course, the people will not understand it.

“At the end, the people, or the referee, say the handball in the last minute (against RB Leipzig) – Oh, I’m sorry, because it was not handball, anyway. Just in case it was handball, and we won the game, no substitutions was a good decision. I’m exposed, we are exposed, all the managers are on that. No, no problem at all.”