Guardiola badly needs Foden back at his best - and derby offers cause for hope

One of the many mysteries of last season for Manchester City was Phil Foden. When he was a teenager, everybody knew how good he was.

- Jonathan Wilson

He had been probably the key player as England won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017, and there had been a clamour for him to play for Manchester City long before Pep Guardiola began to start him regularly in 2020-21. For four seasons he was one of the best players in the league and then, suddenly, there was nothing - at least by the exceptionally high standards he had set.

Foden had not had a good European Championship in 2024. He has never really produced his best for England, a function perhaps of him playing for a club with such a specific style of play. Take him out of that regimented environment where he knew exactly what runs to make, where his teammates would be moving, and he found it hard to adapt. And England generally did not play well at that European Championship, despite reaching the final; the front end of the team was a mess, lacking the balance of previous Gareth Southgate sides. But why did Foden's form fail to return when he got back to City? It's not uncommon for players who have played for sides that have gone deep at summer tournaments to start the following season slowly. But Foden never regained his form. He had a couple of bouts of illness and an ankle injury, and although that did disrupt his season there was no long-term ailment.