Manchester City to Speak to Phil Foden After Breach of Social Distancing Guidelines

Phil Foden will be spoken to by Manchester City after appearing to break social distancing rules to play beach football on Sunday.

Foden has been at City since the age of eight, joining the academy of the club he has now represented at senior level more than 60 times.

For a number of years now, he has been touted as the Citizens' long-term replacement for club legend David Silva, who is due to depart the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.

The England Under-21 international is yet to receive a call-up for the Three Lions, but he did win the World Cup alongside the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Jadon Sancho at Under-17 level back in 2017. In that tournament, he also won the Golden Ball for best player.

Now though, he's in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. As reported by the Mirror, Foden was invited to kick a ball around at Formby beach this past weekend. The City star, who has just turned 20, agreed to play, but was subsequently pictured within two metres of the other players as they attempted to dispossess him.

Premier League players have been told to keep two metres apart from others, just like the rest of the public - apart from during full contact training sessions, which was ratified at the back end of last week.

Foden was then asked to pose for a photo with the group of men he'd played with. He obliged, but again failed to adhere to the government's social distancing guidelines - the image was later posted on social media and was widely circulated.

His actions will now lead to a stern word from his employers, who undoubtedly will remind him of his responsibilities as a professional footballer.

That said, he's not the first England player to flout the government's social distancing guidelines - teammate Kyle Walker and Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish have both been caught out over the past couple of months. Both have since apologised, and it's likely that Foden will follow suit.

Source: 90min

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