Sold for £1.5m, now outscoring Foden: Man City must rue selling special ace

Manchester City‘s misery continues.

In Tuesday’s heavyweight Champions League clash against Real Madrid, the Sky Blues appeared set for a statement victory over the reigning European champions, leading 2-1 with less than five minutes to play.

Erling Braut Håland the scorer of both, lashing home the opener having been expertly teed-up by Joško Gvardiol, before converting a late penalty to restore their advantage late on.

However, a poor kick out from Ederson led to a los Blancos equaliser before soon after, right at the death, another defensive mix-up led to Jude Bellingham poking him a dramatic last-gasp winner, silencing a shell-shocked Etihad.

As noted by OptaJoe on Twitter, this is the fifth time the Citizens have lost a match this season in which they have led, as many as across the previous four seasons combined.

Pep Guardiola‘s team have reached the Champions League quarter-finals, at least, in each of the last seven seasons but, ahead of next Wednesday’s trip to the Bernabéu, that streak appears unlikely to continue.

So, as Man City’s struggles go on, attention has turned to the players Guardiola has allowed to leave the club in recent seasons, with one in particular outperforming any of Man City’s current midfielders.

Phil Foden’s continued struggles

Just last season, Phil Foden picked up both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards, with teammate Rodri claiming “he has the ability to be the best English player in history”.

Now though, as noted by James Ducker of the Telegraph, his goals and assist numbers have “fallen off dramatically”, beginning the night on the bench against Real Madrid on Tuesday, albeit he was introduced on the half-hour mark, winning the late penalty when Dani Ceballos clattered into him.

So, let’s compare Foden’s statistics this season to the previous three campaigns.

Phil Foden season-by-season comparison
Statistics	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24	2024/25
Appearances	45	48	53	31
Minutes	3,184	2,660	4,276	2,181
Goals per 90	0.40	0.51	0.57	0.41
Assists per 90	0.31	0.27	0.25	0.21
xG per 90	0.43	0.28	0.35	0.28
xA per 90	0.28	0.24	0.27	0.23
Goals – xG	-1	+5.1	+10.4	+3.8
Shots per 90	2.52	2.06	3.37	3.15
Shots on target %	40%	52.3%	42.9%	32.9%
Take-on success %	58.9%	49.5%	49.2%	41.2%
Statistics courtesy of FBref.com and Transfermarkt

As the table outlines, Foden’s metrics this season so far are almost universally lower than the previous three campaigns, with his goals and assists per 90 both significantly down, as are his shots on target and take-on success percentages, underlining his lack of confidence.

Earlier this season, Foden stated he was suffering from “burnout” as well as nursing “a few niggles” following his exertions for club and country, and he is currently being outperformed by another Man City academy graduate who would certainly be an asset to the Sky Blues right now, had they not let him go.

The Man City academy star how thriving in the Premier League

Alex Brotherton of BBC Sport posits if it’s possible for a 22-year-old to be described as a “journeyman”?

Well, if anyone fits that description at such a young age, it is Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers.

That’s because, after spending the majority of his youth career at West Bromwich Albion, Rogers has been on the books of Manchester City, Lincoln City, Bournemouth, Blackpool and Middlesbrough, before being bought from Boro by Aston Villa for a reported £15m little over a year ago.

His performances in Claret and Blue have earned rave reviews, with Ryan Benson of Opta’s the Analyst labelling him a “rising star” while, as noted by Toby Cudworth of 90 Minutes, he became the first player in Champions League history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a match in January, thanks to a quick-fire double against Celtic.

On Monday’s Guardian Football Weekly podcast, Max Rushden stated that the way Rogers plays is quite “Lampardian”, adding that he might actually be a “more rounded player” than Frank Lampard ever was, while Jonathan Wilson also praised the Villa midfielder, calling him an “incredible talent”.

Rogers’ winner against Tottenham in the FA Cup on Sunday took his tally to 11 for the season, one more than Foden’s ten goals, with Haaland the only current Man City player who has bagged more goals to date.

The midfielder spent four seasons on the Sky Blues’ books between 2019 and 2023, appearing 37 times at youth level but never featuring in a senior matchday squad, before being sold to Boro for just £1.5m. Considering he’s now rated at £67m by CIES Football Observatory, it’s safe to say this could prove to be the biggest mistake the club have made in recent times.