Foden feels lucky to be part of ‘special team’ at Manchester City

Phil Foden feels lucky to be part of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City plans – and admits only hard work will keep him there. The highly-rated England Under-21 midfielder has seen his role gradually increase over the past two years and the Academy graduate is likely to get more opportunities in the coming season. Foden, 19, is viewed as a long-term successor to David Silva and with the Spanish playmaker having announced the 2019-20 campaign will be his last at City, expectations on Foden will grow. Best feeling being back on the pitch 💙 pic.twitter.com/w3NIq1N9O5 — Phil Foden (@PhilFoden) July 24, 2019 The Stockport native feels he is in a superb environment to learn following City’s treble success last term. He said: “Anyone who plays will put a shift in and play well. “I am lucky to be part of it. It is a special team. The success comes from the depth of the squad.” City have won five trophies over the past two seasons including back-to-back Premier League titles. The club have no intention of stopping there with the ever-demanding Guardiola driving them on. Foden said: “He works us very hard in training and you can tell by what we do on the pitch he wants the best from us. That will only help us play better.” Foden featured for England Under 21s in the summer (Nick Potts/PA) Foden made his first appearance of pre-season as he came off the bench in Wednesday’s 6-1 friendly win over Kitchee in Hong Kong. He was not involved at the Premier League Asia Trophy in China last week as he was given further time off following his international commitments at the European Under-21s Championship. He said: “I have only been here two days. It is bound to be difficult (to acclimatise) but if I train hard my fitness will come back slowly.” Topics Manchester City, Phil Foden, Man City 5 things we learned from the fifth round of the FA Cup Twitter users unimpressed by new ‘mash up’ Manchester City kit Foden takes City back to the top with hard-fought win over Spurs Guardiola: I’ve known Phil Foden was special since day one Manchester United have a clear message for Inter Milan about Romelu Lukaku – and may have identified his replacement “It’s just not possible” – Jurgen Klopp rules out re-signing Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool Rice hails response after double emergency at Hamilton game Watford defender Ben Wilmot signs season-long loan at Swansea Middlesbrough forward Martin Braithwaite signs four-year deal at Leganes 7 players Frank Lampard must still sell despite Chelsea’s transfer ban Manchester United clinch €75m deal for midfielder as Real Madrid close in on Paul Pogba 28 red hot fantasy football tips Fantasy Premier League bargains: cheap defenders and midfielders for stretched budgets 10 overpriced transfers that absolutely worked out