Enzo Maresca credits honest talks for Phil Foden’s Manchester City resurgence
Maresca says personal conversations helped Foden rediscover his best
Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has revealed he held a series of private talks with Phil Foden to help the midfielder rediscover the form that earned him the Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year award in 2023-24.
Foden, 26, struggled over the past two years but has scored four goals in his past two games, giving City hope he can recapture his peak level ahead of the trip to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime.
City go to Villa Park aiming to extend a perfect Premier League start under Maresca, with Erling Haaland fit after sitting on the bench for Wednesday’s Champions League win over AEK Athens.
“Since we started I sat down with Phil two or three times, especially at the beginning,” Maresca said. “Maybe love is not the right word to use but just to show him how important he is.”
“I said many times that I know Phil from years ago so I know how good he is. For different reasons the last few years he was not good enough but again I think when you have more players like Phil available you are a better team because at the end it’s a matter of improving players. If you improve the players you improve the team, so for me it’s my duty to try to help Phil to be again one of the best players in England. But it’s not just about one game – the season is very long.”
Maresca, who knew Foden from a spell as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, stressed consistency will be required to keep his place. Competition for attacking roles is fierce, including from Rayan Cherki, whom Maresca has described as “one of the best players in Europe”.
Perfect league run and selection doubts
City’s only competitive defeat under Maresca has come against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and they have seven straight wins in the Premier League to sit three points clear at the top.
“The mood is good, we are happy with our start but we are still hungry for more wins,” Maresca said.
The manager is waiting to find out whether Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly are available after missing the AEK game.