Phil Foden says Manchester City are determined to make history and become the first team to win the Premier League four years in a row.
Pep Guardiola’s City team crashed out of the Champions League on penalties to Real Madrid on Wednesday, ending their dream of winning a consecutive treble.
But City face Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday and are top of the Premier League with six games remaining.
Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport, Foden said: ‘We know if we win the Premier League this time we will have done something new. It’s something we have our eyes on.
‘Every time we put our boots on at the training ground that saying is there on the wall.
‘It says: “Nobody has won four Premier Leagues in a row…yet”.
‘We want to put ourselves in history.
‘Every day I sit and look at that slogan and I think: “Why not?”.’
Foden, 23, sat down with Mail Sport for an in-depth interview earlier this week. He has been at City since he was six-years-old and has become the poster boy of Guardiola’s team, the former ball boy who made it to the top. On Saturday at Wembley he will face another City academy graduate Cole Palmer, who left the club for Chelsea last summer.
‘My story is nice isn’t it?, said Foden.
‘I played in every age group.
‘I am so happy for myself, the club and the younger players in the academy.
‘It probably does all mean a little bit more to me and yeh there has been pressure.
‘I had to become an adult at a very young age. I had to listen to a lot of people saying a lot of different things. He’s not playing enough. He should go on loan.
‘I mean I had Kevin [De Bruyne] and David [Silva] in front of me back then. I knew I didn’t deserve to play.
‘But now I want to be a role model for this academy and younger kids in my area. I tell them to never stop loving football. Because if you love it you will never be afraid of the hard work.
‘Hopefully young players look at me and think: “If Phil did it then why can’t I do it?”’
Meanwhile Foden will be part of Gareth Southgate’s squad for this summer’s European Championships in Germany. He will join another burgeoning young talent, Real’s Jude Bellingham.
‘I have never seen anyone so mature for his age,’ said Foden.
‘I feel he’s got a gift from God with his physique. We really need him at his best.’