Guardiola for England: six players who would celebrate his appointment

England want Pep Guardiola as manager. These six players in particular would relish his appointment, including a few he failed to sign for Manchester City.

Guardiola has been approached by the FA with a view to replacing Gareth Southgate permanently. This lot would love it.

Phil Foden

The conundrum remains unsolved. In 43 England caps, Foden has scored four goals and provided eight assists, registering only one of either – the opener in a 3-1 win over Scotland in September 2023 – in 21 appearances since the Qatar World Cup. For Manchester City in that same timeframe, he has scored 35 times and laid on 22 goals.

This has been a slow start to the season for the reigning Premier League Player of the Year but it feels like Foden hasn’t even got out of the England blocks yet. The question persists as to where and how he fits best into this team of supremely gifted forwards and creative minds without anyone stopping to wonder why such a consistently under-performing player should continue to be accommodated in blind faith.

The appointment of Guardiola would at least remove the perennial complaint that Foden should simply be used the same way he is by his club. That narrative started to wear down Gareth Southgate towards the end of his tenure but the Spaniard should be immune to that particular line of questioning.

If anyone knows how to properly harness Foden’s abilities, it will be the manager who has so masterfully handled his development to this point. And if that assignment happens to be beyond Guardiola’s expertise too, it might be time to admit defeat.

Rico Lewis

It is easy to simply scan through Manchester City’s squad, pick out the English players and suggest while sagely nodding and twirling one’s moustache that they might fare well among Guardiola’s Three Lions pride actually, yeah.

Jack Grealish could be lumped in with Foden, Scott Carson might not be wasting away the hours waiting by the phone and it’s still too soon to forecast international brilliance from James McAtee. But Lewis is a prime candidate for a Pep’s England glow-up.

While most England manager contenders would build towards a future with Lewis in mind as his talent and aptitude for learning would make it stupid to ignore him, the benefit of continuing his work under Guardiola is obvious. The best-case scenario is that he nails down one position and grows into it; at worst he can be a priceless option at right-back, left-back and in midfield over the next decade and a half.

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Harry Kane

An “extraordinary, exceptional” player Guardiola once described as “one of the best strikers I have ever seen in my life,” Kane would already have worked with the Spaniard long ago had Manchester City succeeded in their summer 2021 pursuit.

The existence of Daniel Levy rendered that a lost cause but the mutual respect between manager and player has only intensified as both have risen to new heights.

England would still need to have a Kane succession plan in mind but Guardiola could maximise the minutes he has left and perhaps at least stall the process if he keeps his Erling Haaland training sessions on file.

It would also further clarify just how trophy-cursed Kane really is, which at this stage is an entirely necessary premise to explore.

Declan Rice

“He’s not the first one who we wanted who didn’t join us. We have a long list,” said Guardiola of Rice in March, having summarily failed in a hijack of a transfer for which Arsenal had carefully laid the groundwork over a series of months.

Rice had his reasons for choosing Arsenal over Manchester City and they can be viewed favourably or otherwise with the benefit of hindsight. But Guardiola’s admiration of the midfielder is not in doubt.

For at least another half-decade, Rice will be one of the most important cogs in the England machine regardless of who is tasked with keeping it running. But Guardiola would relish working with a former target.

Eberechi Eze

It would be great fun to see precisely what Guardiola makes of England’s No. 10 surplus. The bloke once said Foden can play “five positions” including left-back. He tried to sign “whole package” Jude Bellingham. He would have preferred to keep “brilliant” Cole Palmer. James Maddison was once taken aside by the Spaniard after a match to be asked “why we didn’t play like the last 15 minutes for the whole game”.

Manchester City have been linked most intensely with Eze over the past two summers. While the move has not yet come to fruition, Guardiola has spoken publicly of his appreciation for Crystal Palace’s “incredible threat”.

Eze has had a rough couple of months culminating in the loss of his England squad place. Some Guardiola innovation would be well-timed.

Nathan Redmond

Imagine the team talks.