What next for Foden & Diaz?

Instead of who? Silva? De Bruyne? Sterling? Sané? Foden is promising but do you really think it's fair to expect him to do as well as any of those four players?

Right now we have a 24-man senior squad.
Two are goalkeepers, that leaves 22.
Four (including Delph) are fullbacks, that leaves 18
Five are centerbacks, that leaves 13
Two are out-and-out strikers, leaving 11
Two are defensive-minded midfielders in a role Foden and Diaz can't play- that leaves 9

Sané, Sterling, Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, Zinchenko, Foden, Diaz

In the average City line-up there's room for four of these players in the starting XI and maybe two in the bench. So three must miss out. Zinchenko, Foden and Diaz are the obvious choices.

It's not that Pep doesn't want to give them a go- it's that he can't do so without dropping one of the other six, who are all talented and deserving. It's not like we're playing Sam Clucas and Charlie Adam instead of giving youth a chance, these are world-class players.

So when will their time come? That depends on three things: how many dead rubber games we get, cup draws and injuries.

- They will get a chance if we wrap up the league or UCL group stage/tie with games to spare (not saying I expect that to happen)
-They are more likely to get a go against Rochdale than Chelsea in the cup, or Basel than Real Madrid in the Champions League
- If two of the aforementioned six get injured there is room on the bench for Foden or Diaz.

Diaz can play as a striker but I don't think he'll do that for a while under Pep.
We don't have a 24 man senior squad though, We have 20 plus Zinchenko, Foden, Brahim, Adarabioyo, Muric. Once we get through the next international break we have 2 games a week or more through 'til March. If we get Sanchez in January things might be different, but if we don't then we have 4 players for the front three, plus Bernardo, an injury or 2 to Sane or Sterling would see Brahim and Foden on the bench if not needed to start some games or to rest Sane and Sterling in the cup games.
 
I don't buy that argument that just because they are 17 they have to be patient.

Sometimes every now and again a player comes across who is clearly just too good for academy football and needs to be playing first team football at a high level.

Ok, 17 is a little premature, but at 18 Foden needs to be on the same pathway as Sterling, Sane, Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele. All of whom were pretty much regulars in their first teams at 18.

Look at Jack Wilshere. He had 35 PL games in the 2010/11 season. That was when he was 18 going on 19.

That is what Foden needs to be aiming for.

I wouldn't rule him out going to Girona.
 
Brahim is 18 and there is literally no precedent to suggest their time will come other than blind faith at the moment. It may indeed come, but recent history suggests it won't and instead a loan to NAC will come instead to be fair.
No precedent in the 1 year and 10 league games we’ve had Pep for?

As even sunday supplement mentioned, CL final between Arsenal and Barca, a 22 and 24 year old Iniesta and Xavi were on the bench and Messi (at the same age as Foden) didn’t even make the bench.

Let’s see how the season pans out before we all have an aneurism eh?
 
Sam Lee reported that they planned Brahim would be used in the first team out wide after the Sanchez deal fell through...1/4 way through the season and he's yet to even make the bench which isn't a promising sign.

With Bernardo getting all his games out wide, and Foden being preferred, I'd say Brahim's chances of anything other than a NAC loan are diminishing by the day.
Unless he decides to move on. There will be plenty of takers.
 
No precedent in the 1 year and 10 league games we’ve had Pep for?

As even sunday supplement mentioned, CL final between Arsenal and Barca, a 22 and 24 year old Iniesta and Xavi were on the bench and Messi (at the same age as Foden) didn’t even make the bench.

Let’s see how the season pans out before we all have an aneurism eh?

With all due respect, unsurprisingly from the Sunday Supplement, the Xavi and Iniesta comparison is comically dumb. Both were first team regulars and had played hundreds of pro games between them by then. That's like City reaching the final in a year and a half and someone pointing to Sterling left on the bench tactically as proof that development takes time, pointing out him as a youngster or sumat. When he'd clearly not be. Like Xavi wasn't. They were both well past that point by then.

Iniesta had already played 100+ competitive games for the first team at that point and Xavi 200+. It's not even a relevant comparison at all.

And of course Messi didn't start a champions league final. He was 17! You'd have to be mad to expect a 17 year old to start the biggest game in domestic football. He had already played over 30/40 pro games by that point though.

No one is expecting Foden to start a Champions League final. We just hope that the man who's probably just been voted the best u17 player in the world can get a sub appearance against a lowly premier leauge team. Not many are expecting that though, which says it all really on how low expectations have fallen.

The precent I was talking about wasn't Pep's one year and 10 games. It was the Premier League over the past few years. City have been terrible at it since the money came in, and so has the premier league generally. We're really bad at it over here - everyone knows the league has a money habit and would rather spend.

Premier League and English culture has fully headed towards the loan method/buy them when they're ready instead.

I *hope* im wrong, but this country has a serious problem with youth development and you'd not be a dick for suggesting that Foden could just end up on loans for years at NAC after a couple of sub appearances in the league cup simply cos there's no space for him after we go and sign someone like Sanchez in January. Just the way it is these days...
 
With all due respect, unsurprisingly from the Sunday Supplement, the Xavi and Iniesta comparison is comically dumb. Both were first team regulars and had played hundreds of pro games between them by then. That's like City reaching the final in a year and a half and someone pointing to Sterling left on the bench tactically as proof that development takes time, pointing out him as a youngster or sumat. When he'd clearly not be. Like Xavi wasn't. They were both well past that point by then.

Iniesta had already played 100+ competitive games for the first team at that point and Xavi 200+. It's not even a relevant comparison at all.

And of course Messi didn't start a champions league final. He was 17! You'd have to be mad to expect a 17 year old to start the biggest game in domestic football. He had already played over 30/40 pro games by that point though.

No one is expecting Foden to start a Champions League final. We just hope that the man who's probably just been voted the best u17 player in the world can get a sub appearance against a lowly premier leauge team. Not many are expecting that though, which says it all really on how low expectations have fallen.

The precent I was talking about wasn't Pep's one year and 10 games. It was the Premier League over the past few years. City have been terrible at it since the money came in, and so has the premier league generally. We're really bad at it over here - everyone knows the league has a money habit and would rather spend.

Premier League and English culture has fully headed towards the loan method/buy them when they're ready instead.

I *hope* im wrong, but this country has a serious problem with youth development and you'd not be a dick for suggesting that Foden could just end up on loans for years at NAC after a couple of sub appearances in the league cup simply cos there's no space for him after we go and sign someone like Sanchez in January. Just the way it is these days...
This , sadly.
 

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