He grew up in a modest house at the end of a yard, crammed next to a row of takeaways and mediocre beauty salons in Stockport.
But Phil Foden’s rapid rise to football stardom has changed the lives of the England winger and his family.
And tomorrow, the nation will gather to hope – and pray – that his brilliance can also take the Three Lions into the World Cup quarter-finals.
Foden – or “Ronnie” as he is widely known to family and friends – is arguably the most accomplished English footballer of his generation and his salary at Manchester City was recently tripled to more than £200,000 a week.
Manchester City player Phil Foden, as he is widely known to family and friends, lives in a £2.85 million mansion with his partner Rebecca Cooke, along with his son and daughter.
Such wealth has helped the 22-year-old buy his family a £3m gated home in the picturesque village of Prestbury in Cheshire.
On top of that, at the start of 2022, he and his partner Rebecca Cooke, 22, moved into their own £2.85 million mansion, along with son Ronnie, three, and daughter their one year old.
.
Phil and his partner Rebecca moved to the quiet village three years ago
It’s a far cry from Foden’s early years when he was a soccer-obsessed boy playing on the streets of Edgeley with his parents, Phil Sr. and Claire, and brother Callum.
Grandmother Mary’s life has been impacted by his growing wealth, which has allowed him to gift the 61-year-old a £200,000 bay front home, just a stone’s throw from where he grew up. up a few miles.
She was the first to give him the nickname ‘Ronnie’, calling him ‘Ronnie Roundhead’ due to the shape of his head. And the death of her team-mate, Foden’s grandfather Walter at the age of 47 inspired his Man City shirt number. Family clearly means a lot to Foden, who also has four younger siblings and he remains proud of his Stockport roots.
Poached by Man City as a youth player, Foden worked his way through their academy and made his debut in 2017, at the age of 17.
.
He grew up in a modest house at the end of a yard, crammed next to a row of takeaways and mediocre beauty salons in Stockport.
He also spoke about feeling ‘pressured’ to use his earnings to repay his parents’ support. In an interview with Esquire magazine last month, Foden summed up the reasons for his success on and off the field, saying: ‘I want to be able to look after my family.’
Phil Snr, 43 – ironically a Manchester United fan – is now managing his son’s career, while his mother, also 43, is credited with keeping the young superstar on the ground . Last year, she described him as ‘the cheapest kid ever’ and told The Daily Telegraph his childhood was: ‘No games, no toys, nothing, just a soccer ball’. Back in Edgeley, he hasn’t stopped practicing since he learned to walk, whether in his living room, his back garden or the car park a few doors down from his house opposite a bookmaker.
Spotted by Man City as a youth player, he worked his way through their academy and made his debut in 2017, at the age of 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 2017 U17s World Cup, Phil Foden scored a double in the final and was honored as the best player of the tournament
Despite their superstar status, Foden and Miss Cooke remained a familiar sight in and around Edgeley, regularly returning to visit family and friends.
Colette Haworth, 28, landlady of the Royal Oak pub, said: “To us he was never Phil Foden, he was always “Ronnie”. ‘You’ll often see him pushing a trolley across the grounds or carrying takeaway food and a bottle of wine.
On social networks, there have been comparisons between Phil Foden and a grumpy-looking cat nicknamed Phil Fur-den.
‘Everyone around here is very proud of the way he stays close to his roots.’ Local shop owner Harish Panchani, 54, said: ‘He still goes to the shop with his girlfriend, he’s really normal – he takes his children to the park across the road and goes fishing at the local lake direction.
‘How many top footballers can you say that about?’ Mr Panchani added: ‘The whole family are decent people and I’m sure the fact that he remains involved in the community is an important part of how he handles becoming so famous.’
His former coach, Steve Eyre, said: ‘I think one day he will be the best player in the world.’ Along with football and family, the hobby of fishing is the third most frequent theme in Foden’s life.
He had a pre-arranged fishing trip with his father so he missed the 2018 Premier League championship celebration by Man City players. After a bad game, he said, “it’s good to clear your head.” Now he has very little time for this hobby because of football and parenting obligations.
However, Foden remains loyal to fishing friends such as Paul Adrian, who received a call from Foden after his impressive performance against Wales on Tuesday. “He was on Cloud Nine,” said Adrian, 50, from his tackle shop in Droylsden, Manchester. ‘He was really upbeat, excited because obviously this was his first World Cup goal.’
