Mark Schwarzer has said that Pep Guardiola has coached one specific Manchester City player really well.
The 53-year-old recently brought an end to his eighth Premier League campaign in charge of the Citizens by winning their sixth title in seven years.
The Blues are also now the first side to win four league trophies in a row and could well end up winning a consecutive FA Cup if they beat Manchester United in this weekend’s final at Wembley Stadium.
Now though, one pundit and former top-flight player has heaped praise on Guardiola, not for this latest title win, but for the way he’s helped develop one specific player in City’s ranks who has played a big role in the team this season.
Schwarzer says Guardiola has managed Phil Foden excellently
Speaking in a recent video shared on the Optus Sport YouTube channel, Schwarzer had this to say about how Guardiola has coached and developed Phil Foden over the past few years.
He said: “I also love the way he’s managed Phil Foden. A couple of years ago, I was thinking let the guy play, give him more time. But the way he’s managed it has been [great].”
Foden emerged through the youth ranks at City before making his senior debut under Guardiola back in 2017.
Since then, the 23-year-old, who is picking up a weekly wage of £225k-a-week, has gone on to make 269 appearances for City across all competitions, scoring 87 goals and delivering 52 assists along the way.
In the Premier League, the Englishman has increased the number of top-flight appearances he’s made with every year that has gone by, apart from the 2021/22 season where he featured in the same number of games (28) as he did in the 2020/21 campaign.
Guardiola has turned Foden into City’s star man
Having now scored 19 goals and delivered eight assists in 35 league games this season, the most he’s played in any campaign, this highlights just how pivotal Foden has become for his side under Guardiola.
With previous reports claiming that Guardiola blocked the midfielder from joining Serie A side Parma back in 2019, this shows just how eager the City boss was to keep Foden in the squad to help him develop his game around the players City had at the time.