Phil Foden has long been heralded as the golden boy of English football. He has been a great player for Manchester City but has struggled to deliver the same level of performance for England, especially in games that matter.
Pep Guardiola was very careful when integrating Foden for the first time, ensuring he wasn’t overexposed or given too much too soon. This paid off in the long term as Foden has been an important part of Man City’s dynasty as the top English club over the last decade.
However, despite his great performances, Foden also gets the rub of the green as his negatives barely get the time of day.
Often criticized by England fans for just being a system player, Foden has often gone on long stretches of games without delivering a single goal or assist, yet he got no flak for it from the media.
His form for the club also somehow never affects his England selection, as he got picked by Southgate regardless of form.
Foden, who has just 4 goals in 45 games, was chosen despite his horrible form. He was named on the bench against Serbia, with Saka and Rashford starting on the wing and Morgan Rogers as the creative force behind Kane.
England secured a convincing 2-0 win over Serbia with goals from Bukayo Saka in the 28th minute and Eberechi Eze in the 90th minute. Foden came on as a substitute and assisted Eze’s goal, ending his goal involvement drought.
Once the match was over, UK Twitter was shocked at the choice of questions that the English players had to deal with.
Eze, who scored a first-time scorcher from the edge of the box, was asked by ITV if the key to his goal was a pass from Foden.
Fans were furious that ITV spent less time talking about the two black players who scored and helped England win, and more for the white player who came on as a second-half sub.
ITV is one of the biggest broadcast TV channels in the UK and holds the rights to air the England National Football Team’s matches. While not as big as it used to be 10-15 years ago, when it had rights to tournaments like UEFA Champions League, ITV is still a pretty big platform, which makes this incident so perplexing.
Two black players score and ITV want to talk about Foden.
— M (@MKTIRB) November 13, 2025
Tuchel was not asked a single question about Eze or Saka but had 2 of his 3 mins talking about Foden.
If you’re wondering why backlash like post-euro2020 happen it’s because institutions perpetuate it.
English media, especially news publications like The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, and others, are notorious for their biased coverage and microaggressions towards certain races. The media run stories with racial undertones and subtly change headlines and stories to suit certain narratives.
With yet another instance of blatant racism in British media, fans made their feelings known and didn’t mince their words.
Are ITV paid to mention Foden? They’ve just recapped the match as “goals from Saka and then Ebere Eze after Foden set him up” It’s a 4 yard pass and Eze’s stuck it into the top corner. It’s such nonsense.
“Phil Foden puts it on a plate for Eberechi Eze who effortlessly guides it into the top corner”
— Ifeoluwani (@PhilopearlAfc) November 14, 2025
Phil Foden is the one getting all the credit for this goal. Tired of the wh ite privilege stuffs
Saka and Eze scored but all they kept asking Tuchel after the game was about how… pic.twitter.com/2rd1iIYDuj
Theyre actually gassing Foden’s pass more than Eze’s finish for the goal
I feel like im going insane
To make matters worse, the pass doesn’t even match the amount of glaze it is getting from the media. It was a decent pass, slightly underhit, and it only resulted in a goal because Eze hit it first-time.
9 times out of 10, in that situation, the forward would have taken a touch to get the ball under control, and by that time, he would have been tackled. The goal having an xG of 0.03 is enough to show how much Eze had to overdeliver to turn that “chance” into a goal.
Eberechi Eze is humility defined. He’s just whipped it into the top corner with a delicious first time strike, which had an xG of 0.03, and the interviewer asks if a four yard pass was the key to the goal. It’s time for #Arsenal fans to build him up. The press clearly won’t.
This isn’t the first time Phil Foden has conveniently benefited from the media talking about him/leaving him out of certain discussions.
During the 2020 lockdown, Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood breached the COVID-19 protocol rules and invited women to their hotel when England travelled to Iceland.
Mason Greenwood, who was single at the time, bore the brunt of all the flak while the media chose to ignore the already-married Foden, who also had a child, but was still breaking lockdown rules to meet women.
Then, a couple of years later, England fans noticed that anytime England won the game, the media and press used photos of players like Kane and Foden, while when England lost, they used photos of Saka and Rashford.
Who can forget when Foden gassed into oblivion and got comparisons to English legend Paul Gascoigne when Foden dyed his hair blonde just like him? In comparison, players like Pogba and Rashford got slated by the media for getting haircuts or dying their hair.
Foden was somehow the only thing the British media talked about before the tournament. He was heraded as the great hope that would bring back a trophy for England. But upon disappointment, his name was nowhere to be seen.
The British press were instead targeting three black players instead of the great hope, who ended the tournament with 0 goals, 0 assists, and 1 fancy haircut.
Many fans have also noticed that his bad performances don’t get talked about during half-time shows or when the pundits talk about the match once the final whistle is blown.
He is currently on a barren run in front of goal as he hasn’t scored for England since a friendly win against Scotland in September 2023.
His last competitive goal for the country came against Wales at the 2022 World Cup. He also has just two assists (including one in the last game) since December 2022.
What are your thoughts on this situation? Do you agree that the British media show micro-racism in their coverage, or was it a genuine question for a struggling player? Let us know in the comments section.
