Many of England’s stars are almost guaranteed starters for the knockout clash at the weekend with Jordan Pickford, Luke Shaw, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Harry Maguire and John Stones all starting the three group games and the latter has seemingly given Southgate his verdict on one of the players who should fill the four spots up for debate.
John Stones said: “I’ve never seen anyone at that age like Phil (Foden). With his football knowledge. with his freedom I suppose, with how he plays and how he expresses himself and the ability that he’s got is frightening. I’m a huge fan of Phil. I’m lucky I get to play with him pretty much every day. I look forward to what he can do and I love playing with him. (Manchester) City and England are extremely lucky we’ve got someone like that and I want to make sure that he gets what he needs on and off the pitch, which allows him to go and play as he played the other night.”
Foden, who turned 22 earlier this year, has seven Premier League goals for Man City this season and he has clearly made a hefty impression on his club and national team-mate Stones for him to rank Foden above players like Mbappe, Saka, Dejan Kulusevski, Erling Haaland and many others lighting up football at the moment at the very top of list of talented attackers at a young age.
