Gareth Southgate has issued a caution against applying excessive "pressure" to Phil Foden.
Southgate, the England manager, is adamant that Foden will play "an big part" at the World Cup, but he also cautioned about the risks of having all eyes on him. After being benched against the United States, there has been a significant public outcry for the Manchester City star to start against Wales.
Southgate acknowledges that similar campaigns to get Marcus Rashford or Jack Grealish into starting lineups inspired the push for 22-year-old Foden. "We have to be careful because we are putting a lot of pressure on him now," Southgate added.
We are a team, and every player can contribute, but none of the players alone determines whether we win or lose.
And we need to be careful to avoid placing Phil in a position where, if he enters the field of play, things will actually get very tough for him because the level of expectation is too high for a young man who is still making a name for himself globally.
"He is in a different setting than his club where you feel at ease with all the players you play with, it's extremely distinctive, you go home every night, and you're peaceful with everything else," said the player.
"This environment is still distinctive. He's still a very young player, but he's doing fantastically, and we really adore him. We also need to take a little care of him.
Although Southgate's message appeared to be a rejection of Foden starting against Wales, he has engaged in similar psychological manoeuvring in the past and obviously wants to defuse the situation. But Southgate wanted to emphasize how effective Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling had been for England recently.
We have genuinely good players, Southgate continued. This season, Bukayo has been one of the league's best players. In 80 appearances for England, Raheem has scored 20 goals. Marcus and Jack Grealish are both in excellent shape.
"Phil makes us very happy, and we are quite grateful to have him. There is no doubt in my mind that he will have a significant role in this competition."We are pleased with how he is and how he is training. He is intelligent, prepared, and a skilled athlete. We are fortunate to have some intriguing players.