Manchester City star Foden reaches 100 appearances for boyhood club

Phil Foden made his 100th career appearance for Manchester City on Tuesday when he started against West Brom in the Premier League. 

Foden has come up through City's academy and has long been tipped as one of the club's stars of the future. 

After making his senior debut for City against Feyenoord in the Champions League in November 2017, Foden was brought in gradually by head coach Pep Guardiola.

Though he found playing time difficult to come by in his early City career, Foden has now developed into one of the club's most important players at the age of 20.

Despite his young age, Foden has won a host of trophies during his City career, including two Premier Leagues, one FA Cup and three Carabao Cup titles.

This season, Foden is Manchester City’s top scorer in all competitions with nine goals in 25 appearances, one more than he netted in 38 games last season.

Speaking to Man City's official Twitter account ahead of Tuesday's game at The Hawthorns, the club's former striker Shaun Goater was full of praise for the youngster.

"I really like what I see from Foden," Goater said. "He brings energy, he brings a really wise head when you see him on the field. He's making decisions and you think 'he's been around for someone so young.' It's beautiful to watch and I'm just really looking forward to seeing him play more and more."

With Kevin De Bruyne currently out for up to six weeks due to a hamstring injury, City will likely need to rely even more on Foden in the coming weeks. 

Speaking after City's win over Cheltenham in the FA Cup at the weekend, though, Guardiola encouraged Foden to ignore any pressure to replace the Belgian star. 

“We have the players,” Guardiola said. “Phil has to be Phil and not be Kevin De Bruyne because there is only one Kevin De Bruyne. He needs to keep doing what he has been doing in terms of when we are in a bad moment or when we are losing in terms of what he gave to the game.”