Phil Foden Embraces New Responsibilities at Manchester City
Phil Foden has never been one for big speeches. His football usually does the talking. Yet as he settles into a new contract and a new era under Enzo Maresca, the Manchester City star sounds like a player ready to shoulder even more of the club’s burden.
The deal has done more than secure his future. It has cleared his head.
“It has made me feel relaxed and I can just concentrate on being the best version of me and give back to the football club for them trusting in me,” he told BBC Sport. “It is nice to see the support from the club and obviously it means a lot. It's about time I try and repay them and give back to the club.”
That last line lands with weight. For years, City have nurtured Foden as the poster boy of their academy, the local lad elevated into a serial winner. Now, with the squad evolving and familiar figures moving on, the 24-year-old speaks like someone who knows this is his team to drive.
Maresca’s arrival only sharpens that sense of a fresh chapter.
“Very good – a fresh start, a new manager and up to now, really enjoying it,” Foden said. “It is very strange but I know Enzo from before, so that also helps. I know him quite well and what [he] is about. That has definitely helped, to have that relationship with him.”
The connection between playmaker and coach is no small detail. Maresca, steeped in positional play and demanding of his creative leaders, needs Foden on board from day one. He clearly understood that the human side mattered just as much as the tactical.
The proof came in a difficult moment for the player. Left out of England’s 2026 World Cup squad, Foden could easily have gone quiet, retreated into himself. Instead, his club manager picked up the phone.
“He [Maresca] reached out just after to see if it was OK, which was very nice of him, to show us this character and the person he is,” Foden revealed. “He cares about everyone and wants to have a good relationship with the team.”
Those are not throwaway words. In a dressing room adjusting to change, a manager who checks in during an international setback sends a powerful message. It says: you matter here, and we’re building this around you.
The question, as always with City, is what comes next in terms of trophies. The churn of a major transition might tempt some to lower expectations. Foden wants none of that.
“I think we can win everything, but it's obviously hard. We have still got an unbelievable team.”
No caveats. No talk of patience or rebuilding years. Just a blunt assessment from a player who has grown up knowing only title races and deep runs in every competition.
He has the contract, the trust of the club and a manager who picked him up after one of the toughest calls of his international career. Now comes the part Foden cares about most: proving, week after week, that he can be the one to carry City through a new era of pressure and possibility.
