Phil Foden has laughed off comparisons to Andrés Iniesta in the wake of his sparkling performance for Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night and said that the Spaniard is “on a different planet”.

Manchester City’s Phil Foden completes win over outclassed Oxford Read more

Foden was speaking after he scored his first goal for the club in the 3-0 victory over Oxford United that took Pep Guardiola’s team into the last 16. The 18-year-old, making only his fifth start for City, also set up Riyad Mahrez’s goal with a terrific pass and had a hand in Gabriel Jesus’s opener, prompting Karl Robinson, Oxford’s manager, to lavish praise on him. Robinson used the word “genius” when asked about Foden and drew parallels with Iniesta.

It is not the first time Foden has been mentioned in relation to the former Barcelona player. City supporters call him the “Stockport Iniesta” and some staff at the club refer to him by that moniker too. “Yeah, I am happy about that,” said Foden, laughing, when told about the fans’ nickname for him. “But Iniesta, come on, he is on a different planet, so for them to call me that is massive, it means a lot.”

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Foden, who described his first City goal as “an unbelievable feeling”, said he was improving all the time by working alongside some of the best midfielders in the world. “Training with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, players in the same position as me, I am learning every day off them. Watching what they do has really brought me on as a player. Working with Pep as well has really helped a big part of my game, bringing it on.”

Foden has played only 29 minutes of Premier League football this season but recognises he needs to bide his time. “There is no need to rush,” he said. “Pep knows what he is doing, I will play at the right time. He is good at bringing young players through, he has done it in his career before. So I have to be patient. I’m still young and still enjoying being there and learning at the moment.”