Phil Foden Excluded from Manchester City Captaincy Group
Enzo Maresca has drawn his leadership lines at Manchester City – and Phil Foden isn’t in the official inner circle.
The new City boss has confirmed a four-man captaincy group for the season, with Ruben Dias, Erling Haaland, Marc Guehi and Gianluigi Donnarumma handed the armbands. Foden, the homegrown star who has become the face of the club’s academy success, was considered but ultimately left out of the primary quartet.
“The captain is Ruben, Erling, Marc Guehi and Gianluigi Donnarumma,” Maresca told reporters in his Friday press conference, laying out a hierarchy that blends old power with new voices.
Dias and Haaland embody the established core. Guehi and Donnarumma, though, signal a deliberate shift – a fresh leadership axis built on players already tested with the responsibility elsewhere.
Maresca made it clear this was not a snub of Foden’s status or influence. Far from it. He referred to the 26-year-old as “one of the guys from the house”, a line that underlines how tightly Foden is woven into City’s identity and into the matchday soundtrack at the Etihad.
The Italian, though, wanted captains who have already worn the armband at elite level.
“First of all, because Marc was already captain with Palace,” Maresca explained. “So he has the experience. Gigio is the captain of the Italy national team, so he has the experience. The reason why I decided for them is because I can see them helping the teammates and the dressing room to behave in the right way.”
That clarity in criteria pushed Foden just outside the formal group. Only just.
“These are the four that are going to be the captains,” Maresca continued. “But I was also thinking about Phil, because Phil is one of the guys from the house. He’s not in that group, but for me he’s also one of the captains, one of the players that belong to that group.”
So Foden loses the title, not the trust.
Foden’s role: heart of the pitch, out on the wing
Away from the armband debate, Maresca is wrestling with another Foden question: where to use him.
An early-season injury to Jeremy Doku has pushed the 2023-24 PFA Player of the Year out to the right wing in the opening weeks of the Premier League campaign. It’s a role he can play. It’s not where Maresca sees his peak.
“I think Phil’s best position is in the middle,” the coach insisted. “But he’s doing an effort to help the team. Because for the first two games we didn’t have options in the wide area, because Jeremy was injured.
“No doubt that Phil’s position in the middle is much better. But I’m very, very happy with Phil since day one. He’s working very good, even when he has played wide in the last two games, he was good.”
The message is blunt: Foden is sacrificing his favourite role to plug a gap. Maresca values that as much as any armband.
His willingness to move Foden around the frontline is no accident. To Maresca, players of that calibre must be able to shift and still dominate. He sees Foden’s intelligence and technique as tools that can unlock different zones of the pitch, especially when injuries bite.
The manager has been impressed by how Foden has handled those tactical tweaks. No sulking. No public grumbles about not living permanently in the No 10 pocket. Just work.
“You can see that inside the pitch he’s much better,” Maresca said. “But at the end, Phil is going to play in a different position. Because he’s a good and good players, they can play in different positions.”
The captain’s armband may sit on other sleeves this season. The question now is simpler, and sharper: from which area of the pitch will Phil Foden end up leading this City team anyway?
