Pundit Stewart Robson has claimed that Phil Foden should be in the Manchester City team ahead of Jack Grealish.
Grealish started the recent Community Shield match against Arsenal, which saw City lose on penalties after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, before Foden replaced him in the 58th minute.
Looking ahead to the upcoming Premier League season, one pundit has had his say on which of the two Englishmen he feels deserves to be in the starting XI more.
Robson says Foden should play ahead of Grealish
Speaking in a recent video on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Robson had this to say about Foden and Grealish.
He said: “I think Foden is a better player than Grealish.
“I haven’t seen Grealish go past anyone whenever I’ve watched him play in the last six months or so, whereas Foden just gave them a bit more dynamism when he came on and changed the game.”
Looking back to the match at Wembley Stadium last weekend, Grealish had 27 touches of the ball in 58 minutes where he accurately completed 13 of the 18 passes he attempted and successfully completed two of the three dribbles he went on.
In comparison, with 32 minutes under his belt, Foden had 24 touches, accurately made 16 of the 17 passes he attempted and completed the two dribbles he made.
In terms of taking players on, the 27-year-old attempted more take-ons (110) and made more successful take-ons (45) than any other City player across their previous Premier League campaign.
Interestingly, Foden racked up the second-highest total of take-ons (81) and successful take-ons (40) in the squad, leaving him with a higher percentage of successful take-ons (49.4%) than Grealish (40.9%).
This makes it easy to see why Robson thinks the 23-year-old could be a more dynamic option for Pep Guardiola on the left-wing.
However, with the former Aston Villa star starting 41 of the 50 appearances he made last season in all competitions, we feel that it’s likely the winger will be a regular in the starting XI once again this season, leaving his fellow Englishman with a challenge to get in the team elsewhere.
