Former coach of Manchester City's Phil Foden says he was always ‘mind blowing’

The former coach of a Manchester City player says he always had a natural talent.

Joe Makin was Phil Foden's coach on the Reddish Vulcans under eight team.

Mr Makin said: “The first time I actually saw him, the ball came to him and he did what we call a Cruyff turn and ran away.

"Two boys ran that way and he ran in the opposite direction and you suddenly think he was born with that, he’s got the natural balance, the technique, we can make that better but you can’t instil that in a child particularly at that age.”

The 23-year-old footballer from Stockport was part of Manchester City's treble winning squad on Saturday 10 June.

"I hadn’t seen it before but not only that I hadn't seen anybody with such coordination and balance…very left footed," said Mr Makin.

"But just to do what he did and smile and get on with doing it, it was mind-blowing.”

Foden started playing at the Vulcans when he was six-years-old and became the club's youngest-ever goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League.

He has played at Manchester City since he was 17, but Mr Makin says he visited his childhood team before he was a Premier League star.

Mr Makin continued: “He used to come and help me on a Saturday morning with the soccer school.

"I've been doing the Falcon Soccer School now for 23 years, Phil came a couple of times on a Saturday morning when we didn’t have games at the academy.

"He just helped Logan who was four or five years of age.”

The player has also had 23 appearances for England, and was part of the under-17 squad that lifted the World Cup in 2017.

“He’s very quiet, very quiet, family oriented, great family background, he just got on with it," added Mr Makin.

"He does little things like where we were playing in a game and he scored a couple of goals and one of the parents on the touch line commented to another parent that you’d pay to watch this wouldn’t you?"

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