When Pep Guardiola told a press conference in Japan in 2019 that Phil Foden was the most talented player he had ever seen, many eyebrows were raised. Foden was 19 at the time and had only started three Premier League games. Given all the players Guardiola had worked with, including Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Kevin De Bruyne, it seemed like an odd statement to make, not to mention a huge burden for the teenager to carry. But it all makes sense now.
Not for the first time, Guardiola has been proven right. Foden has entered a new level of greatness in the aftermath of the Manchester derby which he dominated to a ludicrous extent, guiding Manchester City back to victory over Manchester United with a world-class individual performance capped by two stunning goals. Guardiola led the praise and echoed his 2019 words by likening Foden's impact on big matches to Messi, who won the coach an untold amount of crunch matches when he was in charge of Barcelona.
"The good players can play well but you have to win games, and I knew the greatest ever player like Messi," Guardiola told TV2. "He can win games, and I don't want to compare because Phil is not the level from Leo, but he is winning games." In another interview, Guardiola claimed Foden was "the best player in the Premier League right now". It is hard to disagree with his assessment.
As Foden basked in the glory of being the local hero who decided the derby for his boyhood club, it was difficult not to think of Jadon Sancho, Foden's old team-mate in the City academy. The pair were the leading lights of City's class of 2016, but while Foden is being talked about as a candidate for the 2024 Ballon d'Or and is destined for a huge summer with England, Sancho's career continues to stall.