Calling a footballer a “utility player” almost always used to be a case of damning them with faint praise. They were the jacks of all trades, but masters of none, someone who could fit in and do a job in various positions, but was usually not good enough at any of them to make it his own.
But when footballers like Phil Foden come along, they turn that theory upside down - it is because he is so good in whichever position he is asked to play, that he is roaming around the team, popping up in a different role from week to week.
Right now, Foden has carved a niche as the central attacking player at Manchester City, but is also being eyed by Gareth Southgate as a number ten, or even a deep-lying playmaker for England - he has excelled in all
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