Manchester City will have to be alarmed as to the situation surrounding Phil Foden, who is reportedly attracting interest from Real Madrid.
Spanish publication Don Balon claims Florentino Perez has a Manchester City star on his mind as a potential replacement for Toni Kroos. The player in question, surprisingly, is youngster Phil Foden, who the Real Madrid president thinks could dominate Europe in the coming years.
The report entails that Toni Kroos is likely to seek new challenges and want to leave Real Madrid in a couple of seasons, as he did during his time at Bayern Munich. Thus, the club president is looking at the Manchester City youngster, who can be slowly phased into the first-team setup to take over from Kroos when the German does end up leaving.
Phil Foden broke onto the scene as one of the few Manchester City youngsters to be a part of the first-team pre-season tour under Pep Guardiola last summer. The youngster then backed it up with a triumphant Under-17 World Cup campaign with England and his stock has been on the rise ever since.
Foden already has 8 senior appearances this season, with an assist as well. But, it is in the Under-23 Premier League and the UEFA Youth League where the teenager has been showing just what a gem of a player he is.
The 17-year-old has a really easy-on-the-eye footballing nature, which is one of the reasons he has been hailed as one of the players to watch in the coming years.
As far as replacing Toni Kroos is concerned, Foden shares several traits with the German. And, the report iterates that Perez has already made his interest known to Foden through his contacts, stating that he could be wearing a Real Madrid jersey in the coming years.
Manchester City, on the other hand, will not be too pleased to hear of Real Madrid’s interest in Foden, especially with the club already seeing a little exodus of sorts of academy stars, chief among them being Jadon Sancho, who left for Borussia Dortmund and is already being hailed as a bright star.
The likes of Foden are proof of the good work the academy setup has been doing in bringing through youngsters at Manchester City. But, the main problem has been their integration into the first-team setup, which is why many have opted to leave rather than bide their time.
Foden though, has already made the cut and established himself as a player to watch in Guardiola’s eyes. Thus, Foden leaving would be a body blow to Manchester City, who are likely to do everything they can to retain the 17-year-old.
One twist though, might be that City could end up sacrificing Foden in favour of bringing Toni Kroos in at Etihad. The German has been linked to the Citizens and the report says that it is highly possible he could end up at City.
Nevertheless, Foden is a talent worth watching. And Real Madrid are doing just that, with intent.
