In recent seasons, Manchester City’s academy has been a conveyor belt of talent.
Current Premier League stars including Cole Palmer, Roméo Lavia, Liam Delap, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and many more have represented the Sky Blues at youth level, before being sold for huge fees, and that’s not even mentioning those who have stayed and are key first team figures.
However, did the best of the lot leave for free when he was just 16, making him the biggest mistake of the lot, considering he’s now outscoring Phil Foden at one of Europe’s biggest clubs?
Phil Foden's continued struggles
As recently as last season, Phil Foden was presented with both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards, having scored 27 goals across all competitions, on top of 13 assists.
In recognition of this amazing form, teammate Rodri asserted that Foden “has the ability to be the best English player in history”. Now, however, even a starting berth is not guaranteed, with the 24-year-old only introduced late on in the 2-2 draw with Brighton.
The City academy product has accumulated just ten goals and six assists to date in all competitions, with James Ducker of the Telegraph stating that his end product has ‘fallen off dramatically’.
Andy Hampson of the Independent adds that he ‘endured a slow start to the season’, thereby unable to ‘regain his rhythm’, according to Sam Lee of the Athletic, with Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian believing he has merely ‘flickered’ all campaign.
Foden himself stated that he’s been suffering from “burnout” and has been carrying “a few niggles” after a long season, featuring a run to the Euros Final, with Pep Guardiola pleading with supporters to “be patient” as his players “are human beings”.
Put succinctly by Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News, Foden was ‘the best player in the Premier League’ but is now enduring the ‘roughest campaign of his career’, having been usurped by January arrival Omar Marmoush behind Erling Haaland.
Thus, with the England international struggling for form and fitness, will Man City rue allowing an attacker outperforming Foden to leave for free?
Man City's forgotten academy superstar
Even before being old enough to vote, drink or drive, Michael Olise was something of a journeyman, given that he spent time at Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City’s academies, before departing the latter for Reading at the age of just 16.
The winger made his senior debut against Leeds in March 2019, racking up 73 appearances for the Royals, before being snapped up by Crystal Palace, who paid his £8m release clause in 2021, really bursting onto the scene in South London.
In 90 outings for the Eagles, Olise racked up 16 goals and 25 assists, earning rave reviews; Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout described him as “superb”, Matt Woosnam of the Athletic labelled him one of world football’s ‘brightest talents’, while former Arsenal winger Adrian Clarke noted that his performances for Palace were both ‘incredible’ and ‘elite’.
As a result, Bayern Munich paid around £50m to secure his services last summer, with Seb Stafford-Bloor of the Athletic noting how this move to Bavaria has taken Olise’s stardom to a whole new stratosphere.
The 23-year-old has scored 13 goals and provided 11 assists for the run-away Bundesliga leaders so far, also earning his senior international debut for France against Italy earlier this season, choosing to represent Les Bleus, despite also being eligible to represent Algeria, Nigeria and England.
So, let’s analyse how his statistics compare to Foden’s this season.
Statistics
Olise
Foden
Appearances
39
38
Minutes
2,540
2,605
Goals
13
10
Assists
11
6
Shots on target %
37.5%
32.2%
Progressive carries
126
69
Progress passes
203
141
Pass completion %
80.3%
84.9%
Shot-creating actions
157
120
Goal-creating actions
18
15
Take-on success %
51%
40.7%
Touches per 90
70.3
52.3
As the table outlines, Olise and Foden have played a near-identical number of minutes this season, there’s under an hour in it, making comparing the pair about as fair as it can be.
The Frenchman comes out on top for pretty much every metric featured, pass completion percentage the sole exception, with Olise outperforming Foden when it comes to goals, assists, chances created, dribbles and pretty much everything else.
Thus, it’s pretty indisputable that Man City would be better off if they had the 21-year-old in their ranks, a rising star that, as Ryan Taylor of the Daily Mirror reports, those at Bayern believe is now worth £100m.
Man City sold the original Haaland for just £11m, now he's outscoring Foden
A former Man City hero is continuing to fire in front of goal this season
1 ByRobbie Walls
