A report has claimed that Manchester City always pointed to Xavi and Andres Iniesta when discussing Phil Foden a few years ago.
That was simply because there were clamours for Foden to either get more playing time or go out on loan instead of staying on the bench.
Back then, there was a firm belief amongst many that Manchester City were letting a special young talent go to waste, with claims emerging that he should be getting regular game time at his age.
Manchester City always had Xavi and Iniesta plan in place for Foden
However, Pep Guardiola’s men stuck to their guns, limiting the Englishman to starts in cup competitions and appearances as a substitute in the Premier League and the Champions League for the most part.
Until the 2020/2021 season, in which the silky technician became a regular starter, as he played a major role in their third Premier League success during the Spaniard’s guidance.
Now, it has been reported by the Daily Mail, that sources at Manchester City pointed to Xavi and Andres Iniesta as references to justify the patience with which they were trying to integrate Phil Foden into senior football.
Said sources asked their critics to look back at the number of games the legendary Spanish pair played at the same age as Foden.
At the start of the 2001/2002 season, when Xavi turned 21 was the first campaign in which he started more than 20 games for Barcelona in La Liga.
While the 2006/2007 campaign, at the start of which Andres Iniesta was 22 was the first time he started more than 20 league games for the Catalan side as well.
If either of the pair perhaps played in England, there would have been widespread clamours for them to go on loan or leave Barcelona.
Manchester City have used the same strategy with Phil Foden that the Spanish giants utilised to integrate Xavi and Andres Iniesta and the Englishman could go on to have a long career in the game due to not being burnt out by excessive minutes at a young age.
