Phil Foden's Transformation Under Enzo Maresca
Phil Foden has heard the whispers. Two flat seasons after being crowned 2023-24 Player of the Year, a slide out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the 2026 World Cup, questions over whether his Manchester City story had already peaked.
Under Enzo Maresca, he is treating this as a restart, not an epilogue.
Foden’s reset under Maresca
Maresca has seen a different Foden since the first day of pre-season. Not just sharper on the ball, but harder-edged in his attitude. The Italian rewarded that shift with a start in the Community Shield against Arsenal, giving the academy product an hour at the Principality Stadium in a bruising 3-0 defeat.
The result was grim. The performance, at least from Foden, was not.
“I think Phil had a good game against Arsenal in the last game. He has been sharp and good since day one,” Maresca said, underlining a change that staff behind the scenes have been talking about for weeks.
Inside the club, the verdict is blunt: this is not the same Foden they saw over the last couple of years. Maresca relayed that mood, pointing to a player transformed in daily work, not just on matchdays.
“He looks very, very good and people inside the building are saying that, compared to the last one or two years, Phil is a completely different player in terms of mood, in terms of what he is showing in the sessions. This is what we want. Phil is from the academy, from the house, so it is nice for everyone to see him getting better and better.”
For a homegrown talent whose form dipped badly enough to cost him a World Cup place, that internal verdict matters. It suggests the fightback is real, not just a pre-season soundbite.
Cherki, competition and a new creative axis
When Foden’s number went up on 60 minutes against Arsenal and Rayan Cherki stepped off the bench, the narrative wrote itself: one gifted playmaker replacing another, a straight duel for a single slot in Maresca’s XI.
Maresca pushed back on that idea. He sees tension, but the productive kind.
“They can play together - in different positions - but for sure they are quite similar,” he said. “At the end, if you want to build an important team, you need competition inside the team. So it's good that Phil and Rayan have that competition, but they can also play together in some games.”
So this is not framed as a survival scrap for Foden. It is a challenge. Raise the level, or be overtaken. The kind of internal edge Maresca believes an elite squad needs if it is to live up to the standards set in the Pep Guardiola era.
Life after Pep begins
This weekend, the theory collides with reality. City open their 2026-27 Premier League campaign at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday against Bournemouth, the first league game of a season without Guardiola in the dugout since 2015-16.
Maresca is not hiding from that history. He is leaning into it.
“I'm very excited to start this new chapter, this new journey. The target is to carry on from the last 10-15 years,” he said, framing his tenure as continuation, not revolution.
There will be fresh faces on show. £116 million summer signing Elliot Anderson could make his competitive home debut, a marquee arrival expected to slot quickly into City’s intricate attacking patterns. Jeremy Doku will not feature, ruled out with a calf problem, which may open more space in the attacking band for Foden to stake his claim.
Maresca also has a smaller, but telling, milestone in his sights. Each of City’s last four permanent managers has won their opening Premier League fixture in charge. It is a quirky record, yet it speaks to a club that starts new eras with authority, not hesitation.
Foden wants to be part of that statement, not a footnote. After two years of drift, this feels like his chance to prove he is not just “from the house” – but still worthy of running it.
