Only 16 minutes! Manchester City s 100 million-dollar star has aging before he grows old and has gone downhill at the age of 25

The word "genius" was once firmly attached to Phil Foden's chest. In the 2023/24 season, he scored 19 goals and 8 assists in 35 Premier League games, winning the best in both PFA and FWA, and was named "the core of Manchester City in the next ten years" by Guardiola. However, just 12 months later, the "Blue Moon Prince" who is worth over 100 million yuan only played for 16 minutes in the first three rounds of the 2025/26 season, with 0 starts, 0 shots and 0 assists in the league, and was out of the English roster. At the age of 25, the golden age of a player should have been, Foden encountered the proposition of "premature aging".

From "double MVP" to "16 Minutes Mr.", Foden's on-court data best illustrates the gap:

- 2023/24 season - 4276 minutes, 27 goals and 13 assists, and 2.3 key passes per game;

- 2024/25 season - 2993 minutes, 13 goals and 7 assists, and 1.5 key passes per game fell to 1.5;

- 2025/26 season - 16 minutes of substitutes, 0 goals and 0 assists.

At this summer's Club World Cup, Foden seemed to have regained his former confidence and began to play football with a smile. But in the pre-season preparation session of the Premier League, Foden missed the Premier League opening match against Wolves due to an ankle injury in the last friendly match. Although he played against Tottenham in the second round, he missed the third round of the game against Brighton due to repeated injuries. This is Foden, who has always faced the challenge of restoring form and regaining the pace of the game.

Folden's decline has been visible to the naked eye since last season. This season, Foden was affected by injury. He only made a substitute for 16 minutes in the first three rounds of games, handing over the "three no" answers with 0 goals, 0 assists and 0 outs. After last year's European Cup, Foden returned to the team after only two weeks off. He then suffered from a "mysterious disease", his weight dropped sharply, and he had a "blank brain" during training. The club refused to disclose the specific cause, but teammates revealed: "He looked like he had lost two laps and fell into the confrontation."

0 goals in 7 European Cups, and was ridiculed as the "invisible prince" by fans; the abuse on social media was once out of control, and Foden had to move out of Manchester city and settle his home in the suburbs of North Wich to avoid the limelight. Affected by the European Cup, Foden's performance in the past year has been very average. After the England team changed coach, Tuchel even publicly pointed out: "His confidence has disappeared and the national team's position is no longer guaranteed." As expected, we did not find Foden's name in this English team training roster. It is true that Manchester City fans will use injuries as an excuse, but Foden's regression is obvious to all. In Guardiola's tactical system, Forden is no longer the absolute main force. Guardiola once beat Foden's "meritorship" at an internal meeting: "What we need is the players who decide the game, not the people who recall the trophy."

16 minutes, for a 25-year-old Mr. Billion, it is not only a number humiliation, but also a career alarm. Foden still has top touches, vision and shooting, but the football world never waits for "once". Foden wants to save his career this season, otherwise he will become another "British Emperor Star" who fell ahead of schedule after Lingard and Sterling!