Phil Foden finds himself in an unfamiliar position at Man City

Phil Foden isn't unfamiliar with the bench.

It's where he spent a lot of his formative years at Manchester City. While there was a whirlwind of calls for him to leave on loan or get more minutes, Pep Guardiola steadfastly repelled them all. Even when the shrieking criticism got to the stage of the manager being accused of squandering a generational talent, still he did not budge.

The best place for Foden was right here under his tutelage, training day in and day out alongside David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. There's nothing he could learn getting seven shades kicked out of him in the Championship or having a nice time in the Netherlands that he couldn't pick up in Manchester.

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Guardiola was patient and deliberate as he carefully nurtured Foden from the scrawny livewire to a player who on his day can be the best player in the country's best team. Foden's talents were already clear when he had hardly turned 16 but he was named on the bench just once in the Blues boss' first season.

The next year came a debut, two starts in the Champions League, and a few Premier League cameos. 328 minutes in total, not an awful lot but the excitement over his talents were already bubbling over.

The following season came his first goal as well as six more and a dramatic increase in minutes, up to 1,107. Then even the next season Guardiola still didn't pull the trigger. Playing time and matches increased again but it was still a rarity if he started in the biggest games. Yet, it was blindingly obvious that Guardiola had managed him to perfection. City had a world-class player.

Then came 2020/21. 50 games. 16 goals. 10 assists. Nearly double the number of minutes to 3,374. Foden