Phil Foden believes that his previous success at Manchester City and with the England youth teams has helped him prepare for Euro 2020. Foden has played in two of England’s four matches in this summer’s European Championship, as the Three Lions marched to the quarter-finals with a historic victory over Germany on Tuesday. It may be the City maestro’s first senior international tournament, but he hasn’t looked out of place on the biggest stage in the slightest. The 21-year-old only has eight caps for the first team but has plenty of international experience at youth level and won the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player as England won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017. Foden scored twice as the Young Lions defeated Spain 5-2 in the final and he believes that experience helped ready himself for representing England at the highest level.
Phil Foden said: “That moment playing in the final against Spain with a full stadium definitely helps for when you come into these big tournaments. You get used to the fans early on and know what it’s about. It makes us who we are, just loving the game [since we were] young.”
Foden isn’t the only young player in Gareth Southgate’s but the ‘Stockport Iniesta’ thinks that there are few nerves within the group as plenty of them have big-game experience.
Phil Foden added: “It’s not just me, the other younger lads have so much still to learn, and playing in these big games is only going to help us progress. We might be a young squad but we have so much experience. A lot of the lads have played in big Champions League games and in the Premier League so I think that helps us to have no fear going into the games.”
