It may only have been Andorra and it was, as Gareth Southgate pointed out, a game in which you couldn’t really judge a player’s defensive capabilities. But even so Phil Foden’s performance was eye-catching coming a week after he had shone so bright for Manchester City against Liverpool.
The 21-year-old, who missed the Euro 2020 final three months ago because an injury which has also disrupted the start of this season, is maturing into a midfielder who might one day bear comparison to one of the greats in Paul Gascoigne, the player he paid homage to last summer with his peroxide blonde hair.