Jamie Carragher has claimed that Manchester City have a player who is becoming more important than Kevin De Bruyne now.
One would claim that Rodri might have a case to be more key to City than the Belgian, with Phil Foden heralding the Spaniard as his side’s “most important player.”
Gary Neville made the same claim as the English midfielder as the 27-year-old’s influence on this Manchester City team is one-of-a-kind.
It feels like every time Rodri does not play for Pep Guardiola’s men, most teams, at least in the Premier League have much more of a chance of getting at them.
Another player who springs to mind is Erling Haaland.
Carragher says Man City star is becoming more important than De Bruyne
Since Haaland’s arrival in 2022, he has emerged as City’s primary goalscorer.
A few years ago, the Sky Blues’ goals were divided among several players.
Raheem Sterling was a prolific goalscorer while Leroy Sane could always be depended on to score an impressive number of goals.
The same goes for Riyad Mahrez, who managed to score 15 goals in all competitions last season, despite being in and out of the team.
Ilkay Gundogan could also be counted on to chip in with goals, especially when they mattered most and especially when he was given more of a license to foray into the opposition box.
However, nowadays, all eyes are on Erling Haaland to put the ball into the back of the net or City could struggle to score goals.
However, Carragher did not mention any of the aforementioned names.
Instead, Jamie Carragher feels Manchester City are becoming much more of a team that looks to Phil Foden for answers rather than Kevin De Bruyne nowadays.
“What I would say now is Man City have gone from being the David Silva era, let’s say David Silva was the main player. And the team then morphed into Kevin De Bruyne’s team. I actually think we’re now morphing from the Kevin De Bruyne team into the Phil Foden team”, he said on CBS Sports.
“It almost feels like, not right now, Kevin De Bruyne’s still the man. But I just feel it’s like a passing of the gab.”
Thierry Henry, in a similar vein to Jamie Carragher, also complimented Phil Foden for how he takes the responsibility to drive Manchester City to success when Kevin De Bruyne is unavailable.
Too early to make such a claim regarding Kevin De Bruyne
Of course, with Kevin De Bruyne struggling with his fitness since returning from injury and Phil Foden shining throughout the season, it is natural that Jamie Carragher feels the way he does.
After all, just like in City’s 3-3 draw against Real Madrid, the £225,000-a-week man delivered when it mattered and dug his team out of a hole once again.
However, until Kevin De Bruyne is fully fit at the start of say, next season, one cannot determine whether he or Phil Foden is the main man for Manchester City, contrary to the take from Jamie Carragher.
Currently, the Englishman has become the protagonist but doubting a player like De Bruyne would be a case of shooting oneself in the foot.