What happened to Phil Foden in the 2024/25 season?

The Premier League is the world’s best league, and much like how it is famed for its high-tempo on the pitch, it can move just as quickly off it. Just ask the likes of Dele Alli or Kalvin Phillips - two players who enjoyed the peak of their powers in the Premier League, but endured a staggering downfall, becoming afterthoughts in the eyes of fans. 

However, no example leaves a more enduring image than that of Manchester City’s Phil Foden. Rarely, if ever, has a player suffered a downfall as quickly and dramatically as Foden has this season, plummeting from reigning Premier League Player of the Season to losing his place in City’s starting XI, all in the space of one calendar year.  

With the emergence of players like Cole Palmer, Ethan Nwaneri and Morgan Rogers, Foden’s spot at the heart of England’s midfield at the 2026 World Cup is in doubt.

But how did we get here? Was Foden simply a victim of Man City’s turbulent 2024/25 season? Or were there wider problems contributing to his poor showing?

In this article, we’ll analyse how the Man City star went from “promising academy prospect” to one of the Premier League’s best players, before enduring a fall from grace as quickly as his rise to stardom.

Foden has been no stranger to the spotlight, having enjoyed a fruitful academy career. He was given the Golden Boot award in the FIFA U17 World Cup, where he was instrumental in guiding his country to glory in India. 

Although he grew up a fan of Manchester United, his big break came with their cross-city rivals, Manchester City, the club he has been playing his trade for since he was four years old.

While critics noted Foden’s lack of game time under the Cityzens, Guardiola ensured he carefully managed Foden’s young and developing body. However, with a generationally exceptional team around him, the world’s best manager, it wasn’t long before Foden started to make waves across the footballing landscape, and his steady development culminated in him being crowned the Premier League’s best player in the 2023/24 season and being named in the English squad for the 2024 European Championship.

However, it was also in Germany where Foden’s career seemed to take a turn for the worse. In an English team that reached the finals of the tournament with a misfiring attack, Foden, who occupied the left wing, made no impact for the Three Lions, despite manager Gareth Southgate’s best efforts to accommodate the Mancunian in his starting XI. Foden left Germany with 0 goals and 0 assists to his name. 

Most tellingly, in games in which England were pushing for goals, Southgate showed little faith in Foden and would take him off the pitch. Embarrassingly, in games against the Netherlands and Slovakia, England immediately scored following Foden’s substitution, underlining how he was one of the weak links in the English squad.

Despite his poor showing, Foden’s performances in Germany were judged to be an outlier and reflective of the wider inefficiencies of Southgate’s system - after all, even England’s top scorer at the Euros and talisman, Harry Kane, struggled to replicate his club form in the tournament. Even Guardiola echoed this sentiment when he said, “Phil Foden is going to be back! … Don’t forget after the Euros he didn’t have any training for two months, he had problems with some niggles and some problems in his health.” 

However, despite this optimism, Foden put up a weak defence on his Premier League Player of the Season award the previous year, as he suffered a drop in his attacking output. Towards the end of the season, Guardiola often relied on Kevin de Bruyne, which relegated Foden to the bench. 

Not only was there a drop-off in Foden’s end product, but his xG and xA also suffered a drop-off from the last season. Even creatively, which one may argue is Foden’s greatest asset, Foden only ranked in the 45th percentile of completed progressive passes, in the 33rd percentile of progressive carries and a measly 15th percentile in successful take-ons.

What makes Foden’s demise so amusing is the magnitude and speed at which it took place - to take a step back after a historic season can be expected, but completely collapsing and being favoured for an over-the-hill de Bruyne, whose relationship with Guardiola was reportedly strained, could have been predicted by no one.

This summer, de Bruyne departed for Napoli, leaving a void that was previously expected to be filled by Foden. However, it seems as if Guardiola has lost faith in Foden, as City signed Lyon starlet Rayan Cherki, casting doubts on Foden’s role at Manchester City.

Manchester City's struggles

It would be remiss to talk about Foden’s poor showing this season without acknowledging the wider struggles of Manchester City this season. Despite being the bookies’ favourites to lift their fifth consecutive league title, the Cityzens effectively collapsed within themselves, as they limped to a third-place finish, despite heavy investment in the winter transfer window. 

The obvious reason for Guardiola and Manchester City's uncharacteristically poor showing is the injuries that key players suffered throughout the season. Early in the season, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri suffered an ACL injury, which ruled him out for the remainder of the season, causing City to lose stability in the middle of the park. For Foden, this meant he was often shifted to a more central position, away from the right wing position that Foden occupied in the 2023/24 season. 

Moreover, Erling Haaland was largely unavailable through numerous injuries across the season, which led to Foden’s assist numbers dropping for the 2024/25 season, as he would have undoubtedly missed the presence of arguably the world’s best striker and two-time Premier League Golden Boot Player. While the signing of Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt should have given Foden a targetman, it is important to realise that Marmoush functions primarily as an SS and is not a pound-for-pound replacement for Haaland. 

Moreover, the 2024/25 season saw Manchester City integrate several new players into Guardiola’s system, such as Abdukodir Khusanov, the aforementioned Marmoush, Savinho and even Ilkay Gundogan after he spent one season at Barcelona, while also integrating Nico O’Reilly from the academy, among other players. While these players may have shown flashes of individual brilliance, the new signings made City look disjointed and seem like a motley crew of individuals, rather than a team.

The troubles of gelling were personified through City’s struggles throughout the 2024/25 season, as they were uncharacteristically poor and lacked the killer instinct that defined Guardiola’s success in Manchester. For Foden, this meant he had little chemistry built between him and his new teammates, which compounded his struggles this season. While Guardiola normally likes to gradually integrate new signings into his starting XI, City’s injury crisis had forced Guardiola to rely heavily on his new signings. This meant Foden, whenever he was on the pitch, would often be forced to play with teammates with whom he had little experience playing with.

Have we overrated Foden?

While it is important to consider these factors as context behind Foden’s struggles, a question we must ask ourselves is whether we were guilty of overrating Foden, consequently holding him to unrealistic expectations.  

Foden has had the blessing of being surrounded by some of the best players, both at Manchester City and for England. At City, he has enjoyed the presence of one of the best midfielders of all time in de Bruyne, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and the best striker in the world currently in Haaland. Similarly, for England, he has enjoyed the presence of one of the best midfielders in Jude Bellingham, arguably England’s greatest ever striker in Harry Kane and an up-and-coming winger in Bukayo Saka. 

While it is important to acknowledge how Foden has been able to stand out amongst these players and establish himself as a stalwart for club and country, it cannot be denied that Foden’s game would have naturally been elevated as a result of his world-class surroundings. This begs the question - was Foden’s output in the 2023/24 season simply a product of having the perfect surroundings? 

To analyse this question, we must look at Foden’s performances in an England shirt. While Foden has played more games for City than he has for his country, analysing Foden’s performances for the Three Lions is crucial, while Guardiola can buy players to build a squad that fits his tactical system

Foden’s output with England is notably contrasting from his output at City. While Foden has scored 100 goals for the Cityzens in 319 games, he has just managed to find the back of the net for England four times in 45 games. 

In fact, the last competitive goal Foden scored for England was against Wales during the 2022 World Cup. Moreover, before he assisted Eberechi Eze against Latvia in March 2025, the last time Foden assisted an England teammate was against Senegal during the 2022 World Cup as well.

During the 2024 Euros, Southgate shoehorned Foden into the role of a LW, and its impacts were visible even to the most casual fans. Often, Foden would look to occupy central areas of the field, which left England’s left-hand side lacking width. Moreover, the presence of Foden in central roles, coupled with the already existing presence of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham in these positions, left England’s central zones extremely congested, leading to poor outings for Bellingham and Kane in Germany, on top of Foden’s struggles.

Moreover, Guardiola has been hesitant to give Foden the keys to the Man City squad, barring the 2023/24 season. At best, Foden has been an irregular starter for the Cityzens. At his worst, he has been nothing more than a benchwarmer for the team. While one may argue that Guardiola has looked to ease Foden into Man City’s system, he has shown no such desire to “ease” Foden’s teammate and age compatriot Erling Haaland into the starting XI, even despite Haaland only joining City in 2022, whereas Foden has played his trade in City’s first team since 2016. 

Moreover, while Foden has struggled to establish himself as a regular starter at Man City, players his age, such as Vinicius Jr, Vitinha and the aforementioned Erling Haaland, have established themselves as stars within the footballing world and have found their names being thrown in Ballon d’Or conversations. 

Even when Foden does see the pitch, he rarely gets the nod to play centrally and is pushed to the wings, despite the former being his strongest position, all to make way for an ageing de Bruyne. Herein lies another major red flag - if Guardiola prefers an ageing star in de Bruyne over Foden, who ought to be the future of Man City, are we as fans guilty of overrating Foden’s abilities, placing unfair expectations only to disappoint ourselves when they aren’t met?

Ultimately, Foden’s highlight reels at just 25 years are nothing short of legendary - the hat-tricks against Aston Villa and cross-city rivals Manchester United, the freekicks, the celebrations - you name it. However, the hard truth is, Foden hasn’t been able to replicate his 2023/24 form in the long run. While truly elite players thrive in every situation, Foden has routinely collapsed when the team around him isn’t perfectly catered to his strengths.

Moreover, as part of Foden’s legendary 2023/24 season, he outperformed his xG of 10.38 in the Premier League by scoring 19 goals and his xA of 6.97 by assisting 8 goals. In the 2024/25 season, Foden scored 7 goals from 5.23 xG and assisted 2 goals from 5.32 xA. 

While these numbers clearly indicate Foden’s drop-off in output between the two seasons, they also shed light on Foden’s performance in 2023/24 season. Elite players often exceed their xA and xG, but an overperformance on the scale of Foden’s 2023/24 season is almost unheard of. Even the output in some of the best individual seasons the Premier League has seen, such as Mohamed Salah’s 2024/25 season, has always remained close to the player’s xA and xG. 

This suggests that Foden may have been unusually lucky in the 2023/24 season - more shots and passes of his were finding the back of the net. To add on to this, his numbers in 2024/25 season may have simply been a regression back to the mean, as his output was closer to his xA and xG.

Foden's mental health

While we have discussed two key factors that would have contributed to Foden’s downturn in form in the 2024/25 season, we cannot ignore possibly the biggest factor yet - Foden’s struggles with his mental health this season.

Foden has publicly acknowledged that he suffered from mental burnout in the 2024.25 season, as a result of Man City’s extensive fixture list. Foden’s coaches, namely Guardiola and England boss Thomas Tuchel, also spoke publicly on the matter, and both coaches have looked to support Foden off the pitch.

Towards the backend of the season, Foden’s body language had shifted towards that of frustration, while he seemed to lack his characteristic confidence. 

Footballers, much like any athlete, rely heavily on confidence and momentum. When a player begins to doubt their abilities, it can have catastrophic consequences on their performance. For a player like Foden, whose game involves taking multiple low-percentage shots, second-guessing your own abilities may mean going against the very essence of your style of play. Certainly, the negative mood around the Etihad Stadium for much of the 2024/25 season wouldn’t have helped matters and would have reinforced the negative narratives surrounding Foden.

So, if we were to ask ourselves what went wrong for Phil Foden during the 2024/25 season, there would be three main factors: the wider struggles of Manchester City, the possibility that Foden was overrated by fans and the media, and his struggles with his mental health.

Looking to the future, the obvious question is, can Foden find his 2023/24 Midas touch once again?

With competition from new signings like Cherki, Foden certainly faces stiff competition for a starting role in the City squad, let alone getting back to his best. However, one of Foden’s defining strengths is his versatility. Foden has formed a tandem with Haaland when he plays on the flanks, and provides Man City with a heartbeat when he plays through the middle. 

On the pitch, Foden has shown promising signs during preseason and impressed during the Club World Cup, albeit in limited minutes. 

What the future holds for Foden will be seen when the new Premier League season begins. However, regardless of what happens, Foden will hold a special place in the City faithful’s hearts for being one of the first graduates of the Manchester City academy to make a name for himself after the Emirati takeover and for retaining his maverick style of play, at an era where Guardiola’s system lays emphasis on efficiency.  

Ultimately, while Foden may not be the difference maker he was touted to be during his early days, and his heroics in the 2023/24 season are more likely to be an outlier than the norm, it is important not to downplay Foden’s importance to Guardiola’s City. While he may not be the crowning jewel in Guardiola’s side, he certainly can prove to be a functional player who provides the Cityzens with a spark of creativity and energy.