Football is littered with what if, sliding door moments but such is the level of his talent and his commitment to improvement, no matter which path Phil Foden was to take he’d likely have ended up in a similar position to the one he occupies now.
Starring for England in Qatar and justifiably considered among the best players in the world, his assists for Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka’s strikes against Senegal made him the second youngest in history - after Brazilian icon Ronaldo - to set up two goals in a knockout tie at a World Cup.
He’s increasingly becoming one of the most influential attacking individuals in Gareth Southgate’s side and will no doubt be an integral figure for the Three Lions as they bid to beat reigning champions France in the quarter-final on Saturday.
However, Bristol City came desperately close to playing a small but potentially significant hand in the 21-year-old development from Manchester City prodigy to global star as he very nearly spent the 2017/18 season on loan at Ashton Gate.
Bristol Live understands that in the summer of 2017, on the back of Foden’s performance for England Under-17 as they won the World Cup under Steve Cooper, several conversations were held with the City hierarchy over the prospect of loaning the then 17-year-old for that Championship campaign.
Johnson, in particular, had developed a good rapport with senior figures at the club, in particular City Football Group managing director Brian Marwood, and having been sent on a secondment to New York funded by the Premier League giants in 2013, while in charge of Oldham Athletic, Ashton Gate was seen as a positive environment for Foden to earn game time and progress, with Tammy Abraham the shining example to follow.
City were close - sources have indicated “very close” - to getting a deal done but such is fate, and ultimately the level of Foden’s ability, that some impressive performances in training and during the club’s pre-season tour of the United States where he started against Manchester United and Real Madrid, it convinced Pep Guardiola that the playmaker’s immediate future was best served under his watchful gaze.
The Robins had to switch focus and Jonathan Leko was the designated Premier League forward talent they ended up loaning with, as we know, mixed results.
By January, interest in loaning Foden had increased further, with Celtic in particular pushing hard, but that period in between transfer windows had only further cemented Guardiola’s opinion after a handful of substitute appearances and a Champions League start against Shakhtar Donetsk.
The moment for City had passed, with Ryan Kent then joining on loan, as Foden went on to make 10 appearances that season, in all competitions, and earn the first of four Premier League winners medals. Sadly, as it had also done in terms of the Robins’ infamous pursuit of Harry Maguire in 2015 when Steve Cotterill thought he had concluded a deal for the centre-back from Hull City.
Foden did end up gracing the Ashton Gate turf, 18 months after the loan move that never happened, as he starred for England Under-21s in their 1-1 draw with Poland. For those present in BS3 it offered several indicators of the player Foden now is for club and country and, for those of a City persuasion, although they didn’t know it at the time, what could have been for the Robins.
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