How Rayan Cherki camaraderie is helping Phil Foden alleviate Manchester City struggles | OneFootball

Manchester City forward Phil Foden has struck a strong camaraderie with Rayan Cherki as he seeks to bounce back stronger than ever after last term’s struggles.

Foden endured a difficult 2024-25 campaign and admitted to mental and physical struggles derailing him from producing his best form on the pitch for Manchester City amidst their most challenging year under Pep Guardiola.

City recorded a third-place 2024-25 Premier League finish, crashed out prematurely from the UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup, and lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace to round off a sub-par season judging from their own high standards.

After spearheading his boyhood club to a fourth straight Premier League title in 2024, Foden was voted as the PFA Players’ Player of the Year as he scored 27 times and provided 13 assists in 53 appearances in all competitions over the 2023-24 season.

City missed the best of Foden and the now departed Kevin De Bruyne last season, which forced the board’s hand to enter the January transfer market and sign Omar Marmoush, with Erling Haaland having to shoulder the entirety of the goalscoring responsbility.

Foden impressed in pre-season is back playing with a smile, with Guardiola stressing on the importance of the 25-year-old learning and bouncing back from his struggles after years of success in the Manchester City first-team setup.

A product of the Manchester City academy, the England international broke into Guardiola’s first-team in the historic 2017-18 campaign and has since gone from strength to strength to stamp a firmer mark on the senior squad.

The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell has detailed how the arrival of 21-year-old Rayan Cherki from Lyon in the summer has helped Foden develop a strong alliance with the former, who is rated as one of Europe’s best attacking midfielders after a breakthrough season in France.

De Bruyne’s summer exit means the role of architect-in-chief is set to be shared by the pair of Foden and Cherki, who have caught the eyes in Manchester City training courtesy of their tricks, skills and respective technical abilities that are frequently on show in training and in warmups ahead of games.

The duo have a big responsibility on their hands in the seasons to come as Manchester City enter their first season without De Bruyne in a decade, with Kolo Toure working behind the scenes to improve City’s attacking output by forging intricate patterns of play between forwards.

Cherki has made a strong start to life at the Etihad Stadium and after starring at the FIFA Club World Cup, the France international was handed his full Premier League debut by Guardiola in Manchester City’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham last week.

Foden has returned to fitness after missing the opening day Premier League victory over Wolves and the Englishman could be in line to start against Brighton on Sunday should Guardiola decide to ring the changes after an underwhelming showing against Tottenham last week.