Paul Ince only had good things to say about Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden.
Since Foden broke into the first-team, there were sky-high expectations of where his career could go.
In December, Joleon Lescott claimed that the Stockport-born attacker has the potential to go down as England’s greatest player of all time (via Manchester City’s official website).
Not many 23-year-olds have been spoken about in such glowing terms, which goes to show how much quality the Manchester City talisman possesses at such a young age.
Paul Ince says “something’s just clicked” for Phil Foden this season
In February, Jamie Carragher claimed that the treble-winner is England’s most naturally talented player.
And yet, while Foden was performing and winning trophies at the highest level, there was a sense that he had a higher level to unlock in his game.
In the 2021/2022 season, the Englishman was deployed as a false nine, where he impressed but he was not playing his best football and in the following campaign, injuries and rotation did not help him accelerate his progress in any way, shape or form.
However, as Phil Foden has well and truly come into his own this campaign, Paul Ince has acknowledged his growth and touched on how he could emerge as a key player for England at Euro 2024.
“I believe this year, we’ve got a really good chance”, he said ontalkSPORT.
Ince continued, “I think when you look at the players we’ve got and the way they’re playing, you’ve got Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid, playing very well, you’ve got Phil Foden at City, something’s just clicked and it’s not just performances, he’s adding goals to it, he’s adding assists to it.”
“He’s someone that excites me and the fact that he’s even from Stockport is even better for the community because as a football fan, you always want someone who’s come from…one of your own, from Stockport.”
“There’s more of an excitement and more of an interest when you watch these games thinking, ‘He’s one of us, he’s part of the community.’ It could come home.”
Phil Foden is proof that writing young players off too early is unwise
Not many would disagree with Paul Ince about Phil Foden, who has taken a huge leap in terms of his status as one of Manchester City’s main men this season.
Often, due to how much young players like Foden are raved about when they break through, any time they undergo a slight rough patch or are continuing to find their feet, questions about them are raised.
Vinicius Jr. is a prime example of this phenomenon, with Karim Benzema famously criticising him in a private conversation while speaking to Ferland Mendy a few seasons ago.
Cut to the present and the Brazilian is up there with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland as one of the very best players in the world.
The same can be said about Foden, who has inevitably developed into a world-class player, as Guardiola rightly stated.