Phil Foden’s lack of minutes for Man City threatens England chances, says Gareth Southgate

Midfielder was handed a rare start in the Carabao Cup final

Phil Foden remains in Gareth Southgate’s thoughts for Euro 2020, although the England manager admits the Manchester City youngster’s lack of playing time makes him a difficult one to judge.

The 19-year-old has only started two of City’s 27 Premier League matches to date, but put in an excellent performance as the club claimed a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

Following that match, Foden was asked about his prospects of forcing his way into Southgate’s plans for the European Championship and said: “I want to be there, obviously, but it’s very difficult with the players that we have there.

“Hopefully Gareth was watching and hopefully he saw things that he liked.

“So that is all I can do – just show what I can do every time I play and see where it takes me. We haven’t spoken much, but he has said in a few places that he is keeping a close eye on me.”

Southgate, whose England side were pitted against Belgium, Denmark and Iceland in Tuesday night’s Nations League draw in Amsterdam, confirmed Foden was a player he was monitoring.

“The door’s open for everybody,” he said.

“We’ve got 70 English players in the league and when they’re of the quality of a player like Phil then of course the door’s open. But it’s clear he hasn’t played a lot of first-team football, so it’s hard to gauge his level at times.

“But it was a brilliant experience for him to be involved in a game like he was at the weekend. The result matters as much as it did at the start and you saw glimpses of the quality that he’s got.”

PA