Phil Foden might be facing his Man City conundrum all over again

Centre-backs playing left-back, attacking midfielders playing as wingers, strikers playing as attacking midfielders, defenders being put in midfield.

Nope, this is not some crazy Fantasy Premier League team but Pep Guardiola’s tactics of recent years. And it works seamlessly too.

Guardiola was inspired by Johan Cruyff’s Total Football philosophy so much that he has run with it and transformed Manchester City into a Treble-winning juggernaut of square pegs thriving inside round holes.

Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji showed that no natural left-back is needed to win a triple-crown while John Stones sparked into the best form of his career when given the freedom to operate in midfield.

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Jack Grealish left Aston Villa as an attacking midfielder to become a skilled wideman for City. This season, Julian Alvarez has often deputised for the injured Kevin De Bruyne by dropping in behind Erling Haaland - much to the envy of Phil Foden.

Like Grealish, Foden rose through the ranks as a midfielder who could play both centrally and in a more attacking role. When he first broke into the first-team he was played in both roles, but time eventually saw him become a flankman.

Nobody could argue that De Bruyne should be usurped from the attacking midfield role in recent years. The unstoppable Belgian has had the position on lockdown for all of Guardiola's tenure meaning Foden has had to play where he can.

He’s not played in central midfield in the Premier League since 2021 but enjoyed a number of games in his preferred number 10 role recently. Foden operated as Haaland’s support act against Newcastle and was the standout player.

Speaking a little while afterwards, he said: "That's my