He grew up in a modest end-terrace house squeezed beside a parade of nondescript takeaways and beauty salons in Stockport.
But Phil Foden’s rapid rise to footballing stardom has transformed the lives of the England winger and his family.
And tomorrow, the nation will gather to hope – and pray– that his scintillating talent can also fire the Three Lions into the quarter finals of the World Cup.
Foden – or ‘Ronnie’ as he is universally known to family and friends – is arguably the most complete English footballer of his generation and his wages at Manchester City were recently trebled to in excess of £200,000-a-week.
Manchester City player Phil Foden as he is universally known to family and friends – lives in a £2.85million mansion with his partner Rebecca Cooke, along with his son and daughter
Such wealth has enabled the 22-year-old to buy his family a £3million, six-bed gated house in the picturesque Cheshire village of Prestbury.
On top of that, earlier 2022, he and his partner Rebecca Cooke, 22, moved down the road into their own £2.85million mansion, along with his son also called Ronnie, three, and their one-year-old daughter.
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Phil and partner Rebecca moved into the quiet village three years ago
It’s a far way from Foden’s early years when he was a young football-obsessed youngster playing in the street in Edgeley with his parents, Phil Sr. and Claire, and elder brother Callum.
His paternal grandmother Mary’s life has been impacted by his increasing wealth, which allowed him to give the 61-year-old a £200,000 bay-fronted home just a few miles from where he was raised.
She was the one who first gave him the nickname ‘Ronnie’, calling him ‘Ronnie Roundhead’ due to the shape of his head. And the death of her partner, Foden’s grandfather, Walter at the age of 47 inspired his Man City squad number. Family clearly means a lot to Foden, who also has four younger siblings, and he remains proud of his Stockport roots.
Scouted by Man City as a youngster, Foden worked his way through their academy and made his debut in 2017, aged 17
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He grew up in a modest end-terrace house squeezed beside a parade of nondescript takeaways and beauty salons in Stockport
He has also spoken of feeling the ‘pressure’ to use his earnings to repay his parents for their support. In an interview with last month’s Esquire magazine, Foden encapsulated the reasons for his success on and off the pitch, saying: ‘I wanted to be able to look after my family.’
Phil Snr, 43 – ironically a Manchester United fan – now manages his son’s career, while his mother, also 43, is credited with keeping the young superstar’s feet on the ground. Last year she described how he was ‘the cheapest kid ever’, telling The Daily Telegraph his childhood was: ‘No games, no toys, nothing, just a football.’ Back in Edgeley he would incessantly practise from the moment he learnt how to walk, whether in the living room, the back garden, or the car park a few doors from his family home opposite a bookmaker’s.
Scouted by Man City as a youngster, he worked his way through their academy and made his debut in 2017, aged 17.
Foden debuted for the Man City first team in 2017
Foden used to be teammates with Jadon Sancho at Man City
Foden won the u17s World Cup 2017, Phil Foden scored twice in the final and was named player of the tournament
Despite his superstar profile, Foden and Miss Cooke remain a familiar sight in and around Edgeley, returning regularly to visit family and friends.
‘He’s never Phil Foden to us, he’s always “Ronnie”,’ said Colette Haworth, 28, landlady of the Royal Oak pub. ‘You’ll often see him pushing a pram along the precinct, or carrying a takeaway and a bottle of wine.
Comparisons have been drawn on social media between Phil Foden and a grumpy-looking cat which has been given the nickname Phil Fur-den
‘People around here are very proud of how he’s stayed so close to his roots.’ Local shopkeeper Harish Panchani, 54, said: ‘He still comes into the shop with his girlfriend, he’s really down-to-earth – he takes his kids to the park over the road, and goes fishing in the local lake.
‘How many top footballers can you say that about?’ Mr Panchani added: ‘The whole family are just decent people, and I’m sure the way he’s still so rooted in the community is a big part of how he’s handled becoming so famous.’
His former coach Steve Eyre said: ‘I think he’s on course to one day being the best player in the world.’ Along with football and family, the pastime of fishing is a third recurring theme in Foden’s life.
He had a pre-arranged fishing excursion with his father, therefore he missed the City players’ 2018 Premier League championship celebrations. After a poor game, he said, “it’s good for clearing your head.” He now has limited time for the hobby because of the obligations of football and parenting.
Nevertheless Foden remains loyal to angling friends such as Paul Adrian, who received a call from Foden after his sensational performance against Wales on Tuesday. ‘He was on Cloud Nine,’ said Mr Adrian, 50, from his tackle shop in Droylsden, Manchester. ‘He was just really upbeat, excited, because obviously it was his first World Cup goal.’
