Alan Shearer has claimed Manchester City had a player who was simply ‘unplayable’ at times during the 2023/24 season.
Manchester City scooped a fourth straight Premier League title last weekend as they beat West Ham United 3-1 in the final day of the season to fend off the challenge from Arsenal once and for all.
City won each of their last nine games in the competition to finish top, and it was a fantastic show of mentality once again from the players to put together such a brilliant run.
Pep Guardiola is hoping to top the season off now with the FA Cup on Saturday. Manchester United are the opponents at Wembley, and the hope is that City can get the job done as they did a year ago.
City will stand a great chance of retaining the trophy if Phil Foden brings his A-game.
Ahead of the final, Alan Shearer has included the City academy graduate in his Premier League Team of the Season…
Alan Shearer claims Phil Foden was simply ‘unplayable’ for Manchester City at times in 2023/24
2023/24 was the season of Phil Foden’s life.
City fans were worried when they saw Kevin De Bruyne limp off against Burnley in that opening game – but they didn’t know then that the team would be in very safe hands.
De Bruyne was out for around four months, but his absence allowed Foden to play in the middle more – and the England star absolutely thrived.
The 23-year-old was often the standout performer in games for City.
Foden’s technical ability is incredible, and he is arguably the best player in the world at getting the ball between the lines and getting on the half-turn.
Foden finished the Premier League season with 19 goals and eight assists to his name, and Shearer said of the star as he selected him in his Team of the Season (via premierleague.com): “What a talent. Magnificent. At times he was unplayable, and he’s deservedly been named the Player of the Season. Six Premier League titles at the age of 23, wow!”
Foden was different class
So Foden takes a deserved spot in Shearer’s Team of the Season – and he was probably one of, if not the first name on the teamsheet. As Martin Keown said recently, Foden has just ‘taken his game to a new level’.
Foden was just outrageously good throughout 2023/24, and seemed to relish the additional responsibility when De Bruyne and Erling Haaland were both out injured.
You can see now that he knows he’s one of City’s superstars. He has been playing with impressive confidence and a swagger. That said, you will not catch him slacking for a second – Foden continues to work his socks off every single game and is not above the dirty work, despite how good a footballer he is.
What a player he has become, and hopefully he can continue his amazing form this weekend as City seek to retain the FA Cup against Manchester United.
It will be important for him to make a big impact, if he has hopes of winning the next Ballon d’Or. Performances on huge occasions do tend to help players when it comes to winning those big individual prizes.