I Can Only See Myself Playing For Man City -Phil Foden
Foden, 20, graduated from City’s youth set-up, playing his 100th senior game in the 5-0 win at West Brom in January.
“I can only see myself playing for Manchester City, considering how much I’ve supported them from a young age,” Foden told Football Focus.
“It always helps when you play for a club you support.”
Stockport-born Foden, who joined City at under-nine level, made his name by winning the Golden Ball as he helped England to victory at the Under-17 World Cup in October 2017.
Within a month, he had made history as City’s youngest player in European competition when, aged 17 years and 177 days, he came on as a substitute against Feyenoord in the Champions League.
Since then, he has played a part in two Premier League title campaigns on his way to a century of appearances for the club, as well as featuring in two of the three EFL Cup finals that City have won under manager Pep Guardiola.
“When I was younger, it was a dream to play for the club, so never did I think I would make it to 100 appearances so early,” added Foden.
“I gave the shirt from that [West Brom] game to my family and they got it framed.”
Foden has succeeded in establishing himself in the City side – having made 10 league starts this term, more than he managed in the whole of last season.
He is also enjoying his best season in front of goal, having scored nine times in 27 appearances in all competitions for City. Goals in back-to-back wins over Wolves and Bournemouth early in the campaign helped build confidence, and he also feels he is benefiting from a change of role.
“I wouldn’t say I’m doing anything different this season, just playing more of an attacking role,” he said.
“In previous years, I’ve played in the middle. Now I’m out wide and you always get confidence when you score in back-to-back games.
“Sometimes you get lucky when chances fall to you. I just enjoy scoring goals and that’s what I wanted to add to my game.”
Foden’s form has helped Manchester City win 13 games in a row in all competitions. From being ninth in the Premier League in December, they are now top.
On Sunday, they visit reigning champions Liverpool, who have lost to Burnley and Brighton in their past two home matches and have fallen seven points behind Guardiola’s side.
It has been quite a transformation for City, who won only three of their opening eight league matches, but have dropped just four points since.
“At the start, we weren’t on top and everyone wrote us off, saying we had dropped too many points, but we stuck together and now we’re on top – so it shows how it can change,” added Foden.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves – we have to just think about the next game. It’s so easy to drop points; there isn’t really a home advantage [this season] and it has been a strange year.
“They [Liverpool] are such a great team and have great players. We know they can go on a run themselves. It’s going to be a great game.
“You see how strong Liverpool have been in recent years and I still see them as a danger – also [Manchester] United are playing well. But we just have to focus on ourselves.”