Manchester City’s Phil Foden has been a prominent figure in the England team during the 2024 European Championship.
As one of the three members of Pep Guardiola’s squad who were selected to be in the England squad for this summer’s international tournament, Foden has started all four of the Three Lions’ games.
After seeing England beat Slovakia, they have set themselves up to take on Manuel Akanji’s Switzerland in the quarter-final stage of the competition this weekend.
Ahead of this big game, one pundit has shared his thoughts about how Foden, who has been deployed in all four games in the left-wing position, should be used in the England starting XI.
Craig Burley says he’d move Phil Foden to a new position for next England match
In a recent video shared on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Craig Burley was asked if Gareth Southgate should replace Foden in the England starting XI for their upcoming match against Switzerland.
He said: “If I’m a manager, I’m thinking how do I get the best out of him, maybe more than how would I replace him.
“It’s a bit of a [Cristiano] Ronaldo scenario, you might have to do it during the game but [Jude] Bellingham had that great goal and he scored in the first game, he had that great overhead kick that saved their bacon but has he been better than Foden?
“Taking the goal out of the equation, which I suppose is quite difficult. I don’t think he will, I don’t think he should but I think he needs to find a way.
“To be honest with you, if you give me the choice of dropping any player I’d play Foden on the right and drop [Bukayo] Saka.
“See I wouldn’t be against putting Foden on the right, leaving Saka out, putting [Anthony] Gordon or [Eberechi] Eze on the left, dropping Bellingham a little deeper to do both roles – the hybrid role – and playing Cole Palmer.
“In fact, to me, that would be quite exciting because Foden is now back in his natural habitat cutting in on his left foot.”
Foden hasn’t been able to shine on the left
Even though the City star has the joint-highest total of shot-creating actions (12) and the second-highest number of key passes (5) in the England squad, Foden showed during his previous season with his club that he is more suited to playing centrally or on the right.
In fact, across the 36 combined appearances he made in the right-wing and attacking-midfield positions, Foden, who Chris Sutton recently described as being the best player in the Premier League last season, scored 18 goals and delivered eight assists.
This makes it easy to see why Burley thinks Southgate should consider moving Foden away from the left and into one of these two positions in an effort to get the best out of him.
