Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has revealed what he instructed Phil Foden to do in training before his side’s 3-1 win against West Ham United.
Phil Foden sank Arsenal’s dreams of potentially winning the Premier League by scoring a brace in City’s assured victory.
City’s number 47 also became his club’s first player to win the Premier League Player of the Season award — beating candidates like Declan Rice, Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and several other big names.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak shares Phil Foden training advice
It seems like Al Mubarak was interested in giving Guardiola and his players a visit before their final game of the league season.
The 49-year-old was perhaps interested in giving both the manager and his players a word of encouragement for the top-class campaign they had.
In his annual post-season interview with the club’s official in-house media, Khaldoon Al Mubarak revealed what he told Phil Foden to do in training before Manchester City’s win against West Ham.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak said: “Nice story with Phil [Foden]. The last game of the Premier League season, the day before the West Ham game, I was attending practice, the last training before the game and practice finished and I was chatting with someone. All the players left towards the dressing room.”
“But there was one player that was still on the pitch, taking shot after shot and he was at the 18-yard line, at the central point of the 18-yard line and he was taking shots, just on target alone, nobody left.”
“I walked towards him, he made one brilliant shot towards the top corner and I remember, I spoke to him. I said, ‘Phil, wonderful but keep that for tomorrow [against West Ham].”
Khaldoon Al Mubarak expressed his delight after witnessing Phil Foden replicate his strike in training against West Ham.
“And sure enough, next day, three minutes into the game, he does exactly that shot and I think there’s a lot of lessons in this about that love and commitment and craftmanship that Phil has towards the game and how really at that level, last game of the season, he was still out there and how practice makes perfect.”
During the interview, the conversation between Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Phil Foden in Manchester City training was shown, as the former said: “Phil, in the game tomorrow, that same one.”
Foden replied: “That one?”
Al Mubarak said: “That same one in the game.”
“Tomorrow, get us that league. Come on.”
An indicator of how dedicated Phil Foden is
Manchester City supporters would be over the moon to discover from Khaldoon Al Mubarak that Phil Foden was training even after his teammates left.
The Englishman has revealed that he has been working on his shooting a lot in training.
Foden’s hard work has paid off as he scored six goals from outside the box in the Premier League last season — twice as many as any other player in the division.
The six-time Premier League winner’s shooting has always been a strength of his but it seems like the extra work has help him further hone his skill.
The top players never cease to strive for perfection and Foden has seemingly done so as well by working hard on his shooting.
