SNOOZE ALERT
I think there's a reasonable amount of discussion stemming from a huge fear of loss on the most part.
Everyone recognises what a talent Foden is. It looks like if he develops into even half the player people hope he will be he'll end up as a top class midfielder. This season especially, he's shown glimpses at a senior level that there's an absolute gem in there.
So for starters, City fans are desperate for him to succeed. Imagine being a City fan, and having had the last 10 years being told that you support a club with no history, no soul, that's buying it's way to success constantly, that's bad for football. Even if you're above of it all, it's going to wear you down eventually. Then all of a sudden comes along this guy Foden. Now, not only is he an unbelievable talent, but he's from our academy. But not only is he from our academy, but he plays the precise way that the club have envisioned for it's philosophy. But no only does he play the way the club wants, he's also a local lad. But not only is he a local lad, he's also a blue.
All these things (and more) in one player alone gives City fans all the ammo necessary to shut a lot of people up. And even if not, it gives them the peace of mind to know that the disapproving majority of non-City fans are wrong. It gives this whole project from ADUG a new sense of meaning and value that wasn't even conceivable beforehand; I imagine it's the closest equivalent football has to having a baby. It gives the club and the fans a possible poster-boy for generations to come. Basically, for a lot of people, there's a LOT riding on Foden becoming a big success, because who knows when the next player of that sort will come along.
And with that, comes the fear he won't make it because of reasons beyond his control. There's a fear that a legitimately brilliant talent is being held back by not getting enough games, or minutes, or this or that. It's a fact that he'd be better with more minutes under his belt so whenever he's not getting the maximum possible people are going to be upset. People are scared that he'll end up being wasted. And unfortunately, because he's the first of his kind since 2008, we don't really know how this is going to go. There are no precedents to give us any clue. Because we've never seen another player at City like Foden develop into a top talent with whatever the regiment is that he's on, we can only say the absolute truths, that are the more he plays the better he'll be, so let's get that out of the way ASAP.
For England fans, it's similar albeit in a different context. Right now the England midfield is dire (and Henderson :p). We've got a whole horde of fullbacks, a bunch of potentially really good centre backs, Kane, Sterling and Rashford, and then our sad excuse for a midfield. And considering how midfield is such an important part of football, not having a good one stings. And then all of a sudden comes along this possibly once in a generation English midfielder in Foden. He plays with that Spanish style that so loved, with a certain English grit and technicality to boot. The future's bright.
Exceeeeept, he plays for City. That team, that they as non-City fans, have essentially been brainwashed into believing are bad for football. That don't care about youth and whatnot. Just like City fans, they're desperate for him to succeed, but they've all been trained to believe that City is the worst place to do it. If he were at a weaker club, we know he'd play. If he were at United or Liverpool or Tottenham (ie the media favourites), then of course he'd play, as they're paragons of virtue in football. To make matters worse for this narrative, another City youth player (Sancho) has gone off to get games at one of these 'weaker' sides and ended up getting loads of games and looking like he'll turn out to be a real success. So that's their yardstick and they're sticking with to it. Declan Rice's new found fame probably won't help the cause either.
Just like City fans, these England fans are desperate for Foden to succeed and massively fear what will happen if he doesn't. Because despite what they might say there really aren't many alternatives to Foden as of immediate. And like City fans, they have no idea as to whether the program Foden's on is going to work, so they can only want what they know will work and that's him getting gametime. I imagine the sentiment is very similar with Hudson-Odoi at Chelsea, another less than loved club.
Of course there are people that are just looking for some excuse to be derogatory about City, but you just have to see through them. And unfortunately until Foden develops fully this will be an easy stick to beat the club with.
Personally I'm not worried about Foden. I think he's being managed well and by how he's developing I have no fear that he'll turn out to be great eventually. I'm in no rush; Sterling took until he was 23 to truly blossom (looking likely to be similar for Sané and Jesus too) so I know he's got a long way yet.
tl;dr Foden's fine, but the narrative about him having to need more to develop, especially through leaving, is reasonable albeit a tiny bit hysterical and unbalanced for my liking. And it's something the club will always be criticised for so we may as well deal with it, like we've doing so well with all the other shit being thrown our way.
