Joleon Lescott has insisted that Manchester City star Phil Foden is actually much faster than he is given credit for.
Foden, 23, was on target for City in the 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.
Heung-min Son had scored at both ends to start the game off with a bang, but then Foden scored a beautiful goal, turning in at the near post after good work by Jeremy Doku and Julian Alvarez.
That was Foden’s seventh goal of the season across all competitions so far, and the ace is now really starting to fire.
Watching Foden is a joy sometimes, and in the eyes of Lescott, his speed is a very underrated quality…
Lescott says Manchester City star Phil Foden is much faster than he’s given credit for
Lescott was on punditry duty for City’s Matchday Live show for the game against Tottenham at the weekend.
He was speaking about Foden after watching him score his seventh goal of the season. There were a few times against Spurs that Foden found a lot of space and was really able to open his legs.
Lescott said (via mancity.com): “He’s one of the few players who can receive the ball like that and all of a sudden create an opportunity.
“I still don’t think people know how fast he is, he’s a lot quicker than what people give him credit for. You see defenders try to stop him physically but he’s already past them. Foden is playing exceptionally well.”
Lescott – who also likened Foden to Yaya Toure in terms of him making an impact in central areas – believes he is already one of the best players England has ever produced, even if he doesn’t improve further from this point.
But Foden will obviously want to do that, and said recently that he is looking to get better defensively.
Foden is no slouch
For all of Foden’s technical quality, he is actually very impressive physically as well.
He is not the biggest, but £225,000-a-week star Foden definitely has a fantastic turn of pace – and that is both with and without the ball.
There were a couple of times against Spurs when it was on show, as he came up against the speedy Destiny Udogie.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Foden though is his speed of actual thought. Often, he knows exactly what he’s going to do before he even gets the ball.
