A debut 19-year-old under the age of 19, at the age of 20 Pep Guardiola was a permanent representative of the team in Barcelona, coached by his mentor Johan Cruyff, who won the European Cup in 1992, and the manager Manchester City has assured Phil Foden that he will show the same belief.
The teenager from Stockport and the winner of the English Under-17s World Cup, is a potential beneficiary of the injury to Kevin De Bruyne who will see the Belgian from the team until the middle of December. While the likes of Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan will also have designs at a more regular place in the midfield, Guardiola claims that Foden is in the race to start matches, starting with the first home game of the season against Huddersfield Town on Sunday. [19659002] Guardiola was reminded of the belief that Cruyff showed him in the 1991-1992 season in Barcelona and said that the school student Foden had become stronger in the course of the summer. But in the end he said that young players are flourishing with the responsibility of the role given to them, as he had done in his own youth club.
Guardiola said about his own development: "Cruyff in that period, his focus was quality, quality, quality, it does not matter the weight and the size.In terms of quality and technique he had great courage to say & # 39; Okay, you play & # 39 ;. Always surrounded by important players, maybe other managers in Barcelona were looking for more general physicality, just strong, the technique does not matter, it depends on the manager. [19659002] "But he [Foden] is strong. He looks like small, thin, yes, but he is strong. He is a box-to-box player in terms of a lot of walking. And for example this season, he is stronger than last season. So give him time. In one or two or three seasons he will be stronger than now. The process does it. He will grow. That will not be a problem. That is why the emphasis is first on learning the technique as the most important because it will become powerful and then easy. But he has quality to play with us, there is no doubt. "
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