Paul Gascoigne urges Phil Foden to be ‘greedier’ to inspire England at Euro 2020

The Manchester City star has been likened to the legendary former England midfielder

England and Manchester City youngster Phil Foden (The FA via Getty Images)

Paul Gascoigne has urged Phil Foden to be “greedier” to take his game to the next level with England at Euro 2020.

The Manchester City star has been likened to the former Three Lions talisman and even bleached his hair ahead of the opener against Croatia, replicating Gascoigne’s haircut at Euro 96.

Jack Grealish has also been compared to Gascoigne, and the former Newcastle and Tottenham midfielder concedes there are also shades of his game in the Aston Villa star.

“Jack Grealish is good,” Gascoigne told the Mail when asked if there is anybody in Gareth Southgate’s squad that has a similar game to himself. “I just wish he’d pull his f***ing socks up and look like a footballer!

“But he’s always wanting the ball, which is good. Phil Foden is good, too. He’s going to be hot.

“He [Foden] just needs to be greedier. He needs to go for it. It was my dream to play for England. Before the 1990 World Cup, Sir Bobby Robson told me I had one game left to prove myself, and that was against the Czech Republic. So I set up three, scored one, and we won 4-2.

“I went for it. I loved playing for England. I loved every minute of it.”

Foden has admitted that he made a “massive mistake” by breaching the England camp’s Covid-19 protocols in Iceland last year, but is grateful to Gareth Southgate for a second chance ahead of the opener against Croatia on Sunday.

“I made a massive mistake,” Foden said. “I was young. Gareth told me if I keep doing well, keep performing well I should get another opportunity, so I had to work really hard for that.

“Not many managers would give you another opportunity so I have to thank Gareth a lot for giving me another opportunity.

“I was a massive England fan growing up. I couldn’t name just one player,” he added.

“There were so many great players and I believe we should have gotten more from the team we had. But we want to focus now on what we’re trying to do and create our own history.”