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Phil Foden must ask himself what he needs to do to win a starting spot in Manchester City and can only hope he will finally have a chance at the glut of his December games.
Saturday's Premier League home game with Bournemouth is the first of nine games played in three competitions that City will play in the last month of 2018.
There is no doubt that Pep Guardiola thinks a lot about midfielder Foden, 18, as well as the club's leaders, who are supposed to be negotiating to extend his contract until 2024.
But the manager 's positive comments about the English international under – 21 have not yet resulted in a great chance in a really important match.
Foden made six starts for the club – two in the Champions League who had nothing to do, three in the League Cup and one in Community Shield this season. His 12 appearances in the Premier League have been replaced.
It seemed that Foden would have a chance on Tuesday, as City would go to Lyon with a point to win to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Guardiola, to select a team without the injured Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva, said at the pre-game press conference that Foden was "definitely ready".
However, when the team sheet was made public, Foden was only one of the substitutes, Guardiola having decided to use Raheem Sterling out of position in a remodeled midfielder. 2 draw.
The implication was clear – for all of Foden's talent, Guardiola did not think the young midfielder was ready to face opponents as aggressive as Lyon.
Pep praise
At least, however, the director delivered rebaduring words.
"It's not important if he's the star of a few minutes or many minutes," Guardiola said. "He's part of the team, it's about my decisions, he's ready to play, of course."
"He can start in any competition or in any match, he's ready, and after that he has to compete with his teammates and sometimes it's not possible, but he's ready."
For those who have followed his career closely, Foden seems ready for some time. He scored a sublime individual goal in the FA Youth Cup's final loss to Chelsea in April 2017, and six months later won the Golden Ball for the best player in the U-17 World Cup.
When he scored his first senior goal for City in a 3-0 win at the League Cup in Oxford in September, opposing manager Karl Robinson compared him to retired Spanish international Andres Iniesta .
Still, winning a place in a city team with some of the best players in the world is a daunting task. Jadon Sancho, contemporary of the Foden youth team, decided that this fight was not winnable and left for Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
Sancho is not a regular starter in Germany, but has made enough sense to win three England team selections. Can Foden match that by staying in Manchester?
Guardiola thinks if the midfielder does the basics properly. "He's a young player," said the city director. "He has to make his own career and go step by step, do not pay too much attention to the media, train as well as you can, play the best you can, your career will speak for itself."
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