Phil Foden is standing on a floating football pitch in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, talking about a fresh start and a fresh mind as he looks ahead to a new era at Manchester City. He has just signed a new four-year contract and was chosen, alongside Abdukodir Khusanov and Ryan McAidoo, to launch City's new away kit in front of 1,500 fans on their East Asian pre-season tour. His name was called loudest by the crowd, and he laughed as the blunt Khusanov was asked for his thoughts on the shirt and said only, "very good".

The subtext around the need for that fresh start is obvious. As much as things will change following the departure of Pep Guardiola as manager, the last two years for Foden have been difficult, to say the least — going from Premier League Player of the Year in 2024 to being left out of Thomas Tuchel's England squad for the World Cup, one he had expected to make.

Foden has plenty of thoughts on how things have gone for him, the good and the bad, but the actual root cause appears harder to explain. "Yeah, I'm not really sure, just football I suppose," he says. "I don't know. I can't really explain. It just happens. Rhythm and performance, sometimes it drops, sometimes it's there for whatever reason."

Tuchel's snub and Maresca's outreach

Tuchel called Foden to let him know he would not be part of his plans for the summer, and Enzo Maresca, the new City manager, called to offer his support, one of only two players he contacted before his official unveiling. "He reached out just after to see if it was okay, which was very nice of him; it shows us the character and the person he is. He cares about everyone and wants to have a good relationship with the team."

"It was a difficult first week or two, and then after that," he says with a broad smile, "I was enjoying the holidays." It was a quiet summer for Foden. With no World Cup, he went on holiday with his family and then spent time fishing in France, where fish in his regular local lake were spawning in their thousands, providing plenty of action. He did watch the England games, too.

"It was hard, obviously seeing England come out and then the national anthem and stuff like that. I did watch it and just thought I was going to be doing it."

He has arrived in Hong Kong ready for action. Those around City's very first training sessions say that he, as well as McAidoo and Antoine Semenyo, look particularly sharp. On City's first night in town, he took a walk down to the Bruce Lee statue in Tsim Sha Tsui and was mobbed by fans.

A season of two halves

Maresca, when asked about Foden ahead of City's first pre-season game against Inter on Saturday, said it is his "duty" to help him get back to his best. "First of all to be happy, for him that is the most important thing," Maresca said. "Phil in good condition and a good mood can help us to win games and to win titles."

This time last year, Foden spoke about the need to "get my head mentally right" as he hoped to get back to the high standards he set in 2023-24, when he was integral to City’s fourth Premier League title in a row. It looked like he was on the road to recovery by the end of 2025, scoring six goals in four Premier League games and a fine double against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, but almost as soon as 2026 began, it looked like the magic had deserted him and his first-team opportunities quickly dried up.

“It was like a season of two halves for me,” he says. "The first half of it was good for real good. I performed pretty well, and in the second half I couldn't really get going and didn't get a lot of game time. Obviously I'm an adaptable player as well, so it doesn't help sometimes when you're changing a lot of positions and it's hard to maintain the performance of one position. But sometimes it just happens. It's football. People who were playing in front of me were performing really well too. And sometimes that's just the way it is."

"I think everyone forgets about the first half of the season; they just write it off and say, 'Yet another bad season. And I am still young, so I have still got a lot to prove to everyone. Hopefully I can do it."

A show of faith

Considering the last two seasons, City's offer of a new contract — with talks starting at the end of last year — could be considered a show of faith that others may not have been afforded. When discussing the future with head of summer, club director of football Hugo Vianahas has said that Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Erlin Haaland are considered fundamental. If anybody is a special case, though, it is surely Foden, the boy who started training at the club at six years old and has risen through the ranks to win 19 major trophies. He says he never considered leaving the club, and that he hopes to retire there.

"Hopefully," he says. "If they still want me when I'm at 30. I haven't thought about him beyond that."

"It just made me feel steady," he says of the contract. "It's made me feel relaxed now and just concentrate on being the best version of me and give back to the football club for them trusting in me. It is nice to see the support from the club and obviously it means a lot. And as I said, it's a matter of time before I try to repay them and give back to the club."