Pep Guardiola has heaped praise on Manchester City star Phil Foden, describing the 23-year-old as one of the Premier League’s best players.
The City playmaker carried on with his brilliant run of form, playing a match-winning role in the Manchester derby win over Manchester United on Sunday.
His brace against the Red Devils took his goal tally to 18 this season, making it his most fruitful campaign yet in a Manchester City jersey.
Often accused of not scoring important goals, Foden showed his worth once again as his goals leveled parity and set the tone for the comeback that saw City come from a goal down to win 3-1 at the Etihad.
Guardiola hails Foden as one of Premier League’s best
Asked at his post-match press conference if Foden ranks high as one of the top players in the Premier League, Guardiola responded saying: “He is right now this season, yes. One of the best.
“Always I had the feeling he will score goals, in training sessions I have that feeling.”
“Now he is winning games. To become world class you have to win games. He lives to play football. He has always scored goals and now he is winning games.”
“At Bournemouth he was unbelievable. Today he missed the first chance against Onana and became a little bit anxious.”
“That is age, but he will learn. Rashford scored an unbelievable goal, Phil scored an unbelievable goal, too.”
Guardiola also added that Foden has grasped a better understanding of his responsibilities more than ever, as his overall game continues to improve.
“When I arrived he was 17 and he had it. He lives to play football,” he added.
“He loves it. He understands defensively what he has to do – before he was not really good, so he understands the games better now.
“The most important thing, when he got the ball close to the box, everyone got the feeling that something is going to happen.
“The feeling he is aggressive to score, that’s why he is becoming a really important player for us and the national team.”
Manchester City will now turn their focus to continental football where they will take on FC Copenhagen for the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash. Having scored a late goal in the reverse fixture where City claimed a 3-1 win, Foden will be looking to improve his season’s tally with yet more goals and possibly hit 20 goals in a season for the first time in his career.
