Foden, City’s most decorated player alongside John Stones and Bernardo Silva, has played his entire City career under Guardiola, who ended his 10-year stint at the club in May.
Over the past six seasons, Foden is one of only three Premier League players to have scored 10 or more goals in all competitions, along with former Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins.
Foden set a high bar with his performances the year after City’s Treble-winning season, registering a career-high 27 goals and 12 assists, but the subsequent two campaigns have been less productive, with Foden’s function in the side changing.
Last season, the pacier options of Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo fed striker Erling Haaland from out wide, with Rayan Cherki often preferred as the playmaker in an attacking midfield role.
That meant Foden occasionally operated deeper, limiting his ability to score and supply the killer pass.
Last season Foden scored seven goals and assisted five times in 33 Premier League games, while the previous campaign he scored seven and assisted twice in 28 top-flight matches.
After being left out of Tuchel’s World Cup squad this summer, the Professional Footballers’ Association said Foden had been a “victim” of football’s packed fixture schedule, adding he “has not been the version we saw two years ago”.
