Pep Guardiola fined himself for comment he made to Phil Foden

Manchester City star Phil Foden well and truly earned Pep Guardiola's respect in the 2020/21 season.

Foden scored 16 goals in all competitions and was named the PFA Young Player of the Year as City regained the Premier League title.

Guardiola has regularly spoken about loving Foden as a player and a person but the two had a run-in back in October 2020.

The Catalan took issue with a free-kick taken by Foden in a 3-1 win over Porto in the Champions League.

Guardiola, known for being a perfectionist and incredibly demanding of his players, fumed at Foden for not following his instructions.

As per James Ducker from The Telegraph, Guardiola shouted: "F****** hell Phil! F****** hell! You haven't done what I said!".

The expletive-filled remark did not go down well with Foden, who felt Guardiola was guilty of double standards.

Said to be "furious" by his manager calling him out, he rushed down the tunnel and got changed in the dressing room before many of his teammates had returned.

Image: Getty

When Guardiola returned, Foden was waiting for him at the door and let rip. He told his manager, "Don’t ever do that to me again! You wouldn’t do that to other players.”

Guardiola apologised to the midfielder at the time but felt he needed to go further.

The following day, a second apology was issued in a meeting with the whole team and Guardiola made the decision to fine himself.

The money went straight into the players' kitty in a gesture that was appreciated by the group. And Guardiola also admired the fact that Foden stood up for himself and had been wanting him to do so for a while.

Image: Getty

It's claimed the moment was a turning point in Foden's City career and was seen as a key step in him transitioning from a boy to a man.

The academy product has undoubtedly been City's best player in the current campaign and his brace against Brighton on Thursday took him to 24 goals for the season.

"He'll end up central," De Bruyne told Sky Sports after Foden's latest showing.

"I saw him from the beginning, it takes a while to get used to a Pep team.

"Now he's trusted central, and Phil does what he does for seven years already. He's been doing this for years, helped us win titles."

Topics: Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Phil Foden

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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