Phil Foden is set to sign a new four-year contract at Manchester City, with an option for a further year, tying the 25-year-old to the club until 2030.
The announcement will be welcomed at the Etihad, where senior executives have been fiercely protective of the academy graduate they regard as the jewel in their crown.
But is it the right decision for a player who was once destined to rise to the very top?
With the England international making most of his appearances from the bench this season, and having no guarantee of a place at the World Cup in the summer, would Foden be better off following in the footsteps of his former team-mate?
A bit-part player at the peak of his career
Foden’s decline from PFA Player of the Year in 2024 to a peripheral figure in 2026 has been one of the more sobering storylines in English football this season.
From the end of November to mid-December, he briefly looked like the player of 18 months ago, scoring six Premier League goals in four games and showing once again what he is capable of.
After scoring against Crystal Palace just before the turn of the year, things have dried up, and he has not found the net in 24 appearances since.
Since being hooked at half-time against Manchester United in January, Foden has started just two of City’s 12 Premier League matches.
He has been an unused substitute in three of their last nine games. He did not play a single minute in either leg against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Those are the numbers of a player who has been left behind by his own club, not a player preparing to commit his peak years to it.
Foden turned 25 in May and by the time this new contract expires he will be 30. These are supposed to be the years when great players put their stamp on the game.
Instead, Foden is watching Rayan Cherki, who arrived from Lyon in January and quickly displaced him in Pep Guardiola’s plans, start the matches that matter most.
The club’s loyalty to Foden is understandable. He came through their academy. He has made 365 appearances. He has won six Premier League titles, a Champions League and two FA Cups.
That credit does not expire overnight. But loyalty and sporting judgement are two different things, and right now they are pulling in opposite directions.
Tuchel is not impressed
If the City situation was not damaging enough on its own, the implications for Foden’s England career make it harder still to defend this decision.
Thomas Tuchel gave Foden starts against Uruguay and Japan in England’s final pre-tournament friendlies in March, the last auditions before the World Cup squad is named. Foden played as a number 10 in the first and as a false nine in the second, a position that was always going to flatter no one with England toothless without Harry Kane.
After both games, Tuchel admitted Foden was “excellent in camp,” but “he struggles to show it on the pitch.”
Foden’s World Cup place is genuinely in jeopardy. England have Cole Palmer – one of the best players in Europe, despite his recent slump – as well as Bukayo Saka, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze in the same creative bracket.
Palmer blueprint ignored
The player whose story should be hanging over every conversation about Foden’s future is one who sat in the same dressing room, wore the same badge and faced the same dilemma.
Cole Palmer left Manchester City in the summer of 2023 for a fee of around £40 million, having won the treble but knowing he could not force his way into Guardiola’s first team.
By his own admission, the move was not inevitable. He spoke to people at Chelsea and to his father, and he genuinely did not know what he was going to do. But he had been honest with himself about one thing. “I knew I wasn’t going to play as much as I wanted at Manchester City,” he said. “When you don’t play, it’s boring.”
The rest is well documented. In his first season at Stamford Bridge he scored 22 goals and registered 11 assists in the Premier League.
He was named PFA Young Player of the Year. He then starred for England at Euro 2024. He helped Chelsea to a Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup double in 2025, named man of the match in both finals.
He is now regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and signed a contract at Chelsea that, at the time, was the longest in Premier League history.
Palmer left because the road ahead at City was blocked. Foden has looked at the same road, seen the same obstruction, and decided to stay.
There is a version of Foden that could be doing what Palmer is doing now. The talent was always there – his 2023-24 campaign proved that when the games came, he was capable of winning the biggest individual prizes in the English game.
The question is whether those games will keep coming at City, and the current evidence suggests they will not.
Comfort is a trap
Foden has never left his boyhood club. He joined City’s academy at eight years old, made his debut at 17, and has known nothing but the Etihad in his career.
It means he has never had to prove himself anywhere else, never had to build something from scratch, never had to carry a team on his back in the way Palmer has at Chelsea.
There is also the silverware argument. By staying at City, Foden guarantees himself continued access to a squad built to win trophies every season, and with an unlimited transfer budget.
Even a bench player at the Etihad picks up medals. For a player who has grown up inside that culture, the idea of leaving for somewhere without that infrastructure is not that appealing.
But trophies collected from the bench are different. Palmer has won man-of-the-match awards in the biggest games, he has tournament golden boots, games that belong entirely to him.
Why Maresca might not save him
Pep Guardiola is reportedly preparing to leave Manchester City this summer. Reports of an agreement with Enzo Maresca to take over have been doing the rounds.
Guardiola himself has spoken in recent months as a man who knows his time is drawing to a close. He is out of contract in 2027, but there is a widespread expectation within the club that he will step away a year early.
Maresca is a fascinating appointment to replace one of the greatest managers of all time. He was Guardiola’s assistant during the Treble season, knows the squad, and his coaching philosophy.
Maresca also built his Chelsea side around Palmer last season, demonstrating he knows how to construct a team through a player of exactly Foden’s profile.
If Maresca arrives and sees Foden as that player, this contract extension looks different. A fresh start under a new manager who prioritises the same positions Foden excels in could be the reset he needs.
But it is also a gamble, and there is no guarantee Maresca will pick Foden over Cherki, who is younger, cheaper and has hit the ground running.
There is no guarantee a manager change alone is enough to reverse the kind of form slump that has gripped Foden for the best part of 18 months.
And if it does not work out, Foden will be 26, 27, 28 – still locked into a City contract, still waiting for a manager who believes in him.
Is there a right choice?
Foden is one of the most gifted English footballers of his generation. He has earned everything this club has given him and the admiration that comes with it.
The smartest thing Foden could have done was use this window to force a conversation about his future. Somewhere, he is the main man, not the occasional substitute.
Instead, he has signed a four-year deal and is banking on a new manager to fix what can only be described as his declining career.
