The 2024 European Championship has seen numerous Manchester City players take part in it.
Of the 14 that were selected to represent their countries in the tournament, five of them have made it to the semi-final stage, which is set to kick off this evening when Spain take on France before tomorrow’s game between England and the Netherlands.
This means that at least one player from Pep Guardiola’s side will be in the final, which is set to take place on Sunday.
Ahead of these two semi-final crucial matches, one pundit and former Blues manager has shared his thoughts on the performances of one of the few remaining City players left in the tournament.
Stuart Pearce shares his verdict on Phil Foden’s performances at Euro 2024
In a recent video shared on the talkSPORT YouTube channel, Stuart Pearce had this to say about Phil Foden on the subject of him not being able to replicate his club form for England, starting by sharing his rating out of 10 for the City star’s performances in the tournament so far.
He said: “Probably 6.5/10, I would have thought. We’re talking solely about Phil Foden and not replicating the form that he’s showing at Manchester City, okay?
“I would open that out wider and go back generations and say the vast majority of players have not replicated what we feel as though they can do at their club.
“John Barnes, I put myself in that, I’d play better club football than I have for my country and you could say Ian Wright, you can say Andy Cole, Paul Scholes, you can go through so we’re not talking about this clutch of players here.
“It’s playing for your country now and stepping up and not playing regularly and playing two games a month or that type of thing and you can’t replicate that.
“You can get in a good run of form at club level over two months. But in those two months, you might play how many games, quite a few. At international level, apart from the major tournaments where you’ve got to come to life at the end of a long season and you’re asked maybe what we’ve got here, five, six, seven games maybe, it’s more difficult.
“I think we might be asking too much of all our players not just Phil Foden to replicate what they do at their clubs.”
Foden doesn’t suit Southgate’s England
With five games played in the tournament, Foden is one of the nine players to have started all of them.
Despite that, the 24-year-old, who scored 27 goals and delivered 12 assists in 53 appearances across all competitions for City last season, has yet to provide a goal or assist for the Three Lions at the Euros.
This has led to Darren Bent describing Foden as being “ineffective” for his country.
Bearing in mind how the six-time Premier League champion has been playing for England in a left-wing role rather than the attacking-midfield position he flourished in for his club last season, this, we feel, has been a big factor as to why Foden has not been able
However, as Pearce mentioned, this isn’t a new phenomenon and hasn’t solely affected Foden in the current England squad.
