Could Phil Foden Be David Silva’s Replacement?

When David Silva decided to call time on his ten-season tenure at Manchester City, many questioned how City would cope without David Silva’s creative flair. Afterall the Spaniard had scored 60 goals and assisted 93 times in 309 appearances for the Citizens and cemented his legendary status at the Manchester club by the time he decided to call it a day in the Premier League.

One gold plated door closed, another one appears to have opened, in the form of Stockport’s very own Phil Foden.

Foden has been touted as David Silva’s replacement for some time now since making his City debut as a 17-year-old in the Champions League as a substitute against Feyenoord.

So often though, promising talent fail to live up to their expectations, afterall being lined up as a replacement for a player who has been a key cog in the Manchester City machine for so long and has won; four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League Cups, is no easy feat.

Although still only 20-years-old, Foden has had to bide his time since his emergence and has probably felt elements of frustrations over the past couple of seasons, having regularly impressed in cup action and the odd Premier League appearance.

Pep Guardiola’s management of the youngster has been perfect, after hailing the youngster as “the most talented player he has ever seen” in 2019, Guardiola has held back on media and fan pressure to throw Foden in prematurely, allowing the youngster to develop and keep his feet firmly fixed to the ground.

The 2020/21 season to date has seen Phil Foden grab it with two hands, being a regular starter for the team, creating goals for teammates and frequently getting on the scoresheet himself. So just how good the “Stockport Iniesta” be? And could he even be an upgrade on superstar Silva?

Foden Topping The Early Silva Years 

In another interesting comparison between the two players, Silva made his most prominent senior beak through at Valencia in 2006, at the age of 20, Foden’s age now.

In Silva’s opening two seasons as a Mestalla regular, the Gran Canarian only missed 6 games. In those two seasons, he netted 14 goals.

Although Foden has of course played for City in the Premier League in previous seasons, this has been by far his most regular stint in the team. So far this season Foden has scored 6 goals in 13 (6) Premier League appearances.

With 14 matches of the season still left to play, if Foden keeps up his current ratio of just shy of 1 in 3 goals for the remainder of the season, he’’ll be looking at around 10 goals for the season.

With a season in hand on Silva’s first fully completed two at Valencia, Foden could be tracking around about just 4 goals behind Silva’s total of 14 across two seasons come May.

Foden With Work to do on Assists to Dethrone Silva

While it looks promising for Foden in the goalscoring charts, David Silva has always been high in the assists rankings.

In 2011/12 David Silva registered 15 assists for Man City, the league leader in this metric. He also finished in the top five for the league on three other occasions, pretty impressive considering City teammate Kevin DeBruyne has mostly dominated the assist charts over the past few seasons.

In 19 total Premier League appearances so far this season, Foden has only managed to register 3 assists, so is tracking quite a bit below some of the numbers Silva has previously put up in a City shirt.

So while it is quite clear Foden has some catching up to do to be nearer to his old City colleague, Silva, it is worth remembering that Foden is still only 20 and David Silva was registering these figures for Man City in his mid 20s to early 30s, which you’d say is the peak stage for any professional player.

Foden has so many years left of football and is only going to get better over time. Who knows what Foden’s assists and goals could like at the age of 25?

How does Foden’s Pass Completion Compare to Silva’s at City? 

Both players understandably rank high in the pass completion stat, after all, if you can’t move the ball well and accurately, you’ve got little hope of carving out a career under Pep Guardiola.

Although Foden still has plenty of football left to play this season, he currently has a pass succession rate of 87.9% so far. It’s worth bearing in mind this number could significantly change between now and the end of the season but he is already not too far off Silva’s best pass succession rate registered in his time at the Etihad. Where in the 2019/20 season Silva registered an impressive 89.3%.

Foden’s current pass completion would also beat Silva’s in 2018/19 (87.8%), 2016/17 (87.2%), 2015/16 (86.4%), 2012/13 (85.4%) & 2011/12 (87.1%).

Foden is currently putting up impressive numbers in this metric and it’ll be interesting to see what his final percentage looks like come the end of the season.

All The Signs Point to a Superstar

Of course, Phil Foden has a long way to go to be classed in the same bracket as a club legend like David Silva, but the early signs and statistics are very encouraging. The Man City academy product is still so young that he’s only going to develop and mature as a player, which is extremely exciting news for Man City and England fans alike.