Man City star Phil Foden has 'potential to be England's next Ballon d'Or winner'

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden has the ability to become the first English player to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001.

The claim was made by Thomas Frank whose Brentford side take on the reigning champions in a Premier League match on Tuesday that was pushed back due to City's participation in the Fifa Club World Cup, which they won by defeating Brazilian side Fluminense 4-0 in the final.

Frank has also seen Foden's skills up close this month already when the England international scored a hat-trick in City's 3-1 win over the Bees at the Etihad Stadium on February 4.

Manager Pep Guardiola hailed Foden as “the most influential he has been” since breaking into the first team in 2017 and he already has 15 goals and 10 assists in all competitions this season. And Foden himself admitted he was playing more consistently than he had done “for a long time”.

Former England and Liverpool striker Owen was the last from his country to lift the coveted Ballon d'Or which is the annual award run by the magazine France Football and co-organised by Uefa given to the top player in Europe.

Each national team manager and captain gets to vote for their winner, with players needing to have been active at a European club to qualify.

England have not even had a player in the top three since 2005 when Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard finished second and third, respectively.

Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane have made flying starts to the careers in Spain and Germany this season but Brentford coach Frank believes their England teammate at City has the potential to become Europe's best footballer.

“Phil Foden is a very good player,” said Frank, ahead of the match