The Brazilian winger joined City from Girona in the summer and has been a key part of Guardiola’s plans in the early part of the 2024/25 campaign, featuring in all but two of our 11 competitive matches so far.
While is yet to score his first goal for the Club, his pace and trickery has seen him give opposition defences nightmares and pick up four assists.
He will be hoping to open his own account in Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Southampton with City knowing that victory at the Etihad would see us top the table for 24 hours at least.
City v Southampton | Match preview
Guardiola says his No.26 has adapted to life at the Premier League champions so quickly because he is eager to improve every day.
“What I like is I have the feeling he wants to be the best, the best on the pitch, to try things and participate in everything, to have the ball and try again,” said the boss in Friday’s press conference.
“He’s not scoring goals but he will take the ball and shoot. We had a free-kick against Wolves and he wanted to take it.
“He’s a young guy and I have the feeling that he’s here to become a good player.
“That defines the really good players. With courage and consistency with his ambition he will get there.”
Wednesday’s 5-0 rout of Sparta Prague saw Phil Foden net his second goal of the season after opening his tally in the previous round of Champions League matches.
Last term’s Player of the Year has had a slower start to 2024/25 after helping England to the final of Euro 2024 before struggling for fitness and form.
Guardiola believes the playmaker will soon be back to his devastating best.
“When he is fine we will get him. He is a natural talent,” he said.
“We saw in his first goal against Prague that he is an incredible talent who can win games by himself.
“Phil has already had a career of many years. You have bumps, ups and downs but we want to reduce the setbacks as quick as possible.
“They’re human, let the players feel this. We are happy because he feels himself.”
City v Southampton app coverage
Our official app allows you to follow all of the action from the Etihad in one place.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin slightly later than usual (approximately 13:55), due to our live City+ coverage of West Brom against our Elite Development Squad in Premier League 2.
Gareth Taylor and Andy Morrison will be the guests on the latest Matchday Live show, offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.
During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Steve Howey while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
Short highlights from the match will be available from 19:00, whilst extended highlights from the encounter and a full-match replay [available on CITY+] can be accessed from midnight.
