From Golden Boy to Uncertain Future: Phil Foden's England Struggle

Phil Foden is playing brilliantly for his club, Manchester City. Yet, this does not mean he fits into the England national team under manager Thomas Tuchel. When the next World Cup arrives, it will have been nine years since Foden's big youth triumph. In 2017, he won the Golden Ball award as England became Under-17 world champions. That victory was a sign of change. It showed England's new focus on youth development, called the "elite player performance plan" and "England DNA project," was working. Since then, England's senior men's team has reached two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final. The under-21 team has also won two European titles. But youth success is no guarantee of a great senior career. The history of Under-17 World Cup Golden Ball winners proves this. Some, like Cesc Fàbregas and Toni Kroos, went on to win the senior World Cup. Others, like Landon Donovan, had very good careers. Many, however, faded away. Nigerian winners Sani Emmanuel and Kelechi Nwakali, for example, never made a major impact at the top level of football. Foden's own path shows that even for the most talented prodigies, a promise of future glory is just that—a promise, not a certainty.