Inspirational! The former Manchester City boy who scored two goals against Liverpool has become one of the Premier League's most powerful post-00s players

What was it like growing from a ball boy to a team player? Just ask Manchester City's supernova Foden, the Premier League's hottest recruit who has been one of City's biggest successes this season, almost a decade after he was their ball-collecting boy.

Foden, 20, was key to two goals in City's 4-1 win over Liverpool last night, racing into the area to unleash a brilliant low shot that was saved before allowing his team-mate Kein Doan to tap in and then sealing the victory with a cut-in shot from the side. Foden has scored 10 goals and six assists in 28 appearances so far this season, more than any other post-00s player in the Premier League.

Manager Pep Guardiola was full of praise for his son: "Foden has a good mentality and is always focused. We are lucky to have him and whenever he is near the box we always have a feeling that he is going to do something. The City fans have got a guy who has come through our academy, who loves City, who has supported the club since he was a boy, who was our ball boy and now he is one of our top players and it is really pleasing to see what he has achieved."

Foden took to social media after the game to post a picture of himself as a child caddying on the sidelines, comparing it to the shot of his goal. Foden was a ball boy on the sidelines during City's historic Premier League victory in 2011-12. Foden watched from the sidelines as a ball boy in the Manchester Derby in which Vincent Kompany scored a season-turning goal, and in the Premier League's best match of 25 years, when City scored twice in stoppage time in the final round to reverse Queens Park Rangers' magical trophy triumph. He has been with City's academy for 13 years, having joined the club as an eight-year-old in 2008, and has been one of their brightest products in recent years.

Foden's development has also caught the eye of England manager Gareth Southgate, who has drafted Foden into the adult squad. It is widely believed in the British media that Foden, one of the best local midfielders this season, is likely to start for the Three Lions at the European Championship. Along with Sancho, who has also come through Manchester City's youth ranks, he is England's future hope. Guardiola said: "He is too good to be the best player. "I've said it many times in press conferences, but probably never in front of him. Phil is the most talented player I've ever seen."

Foden is step by step to become the City of tomorrow's star, today will tell Foden's growth story.

Phil Foden was born in Stockport on 28 May 2000, the summer Manchester City returned to the Premier League from the Championship

Foden's parents strapped a football to his stroller when he was just a few months old, and by the time he was 10 months old, Foden had learned to walk and he could kick balloons around his room.

Before he was two years old, Foden was dribbling beside his older brother. He learned to stop the ball by the time he was two and a half. He never wanted a toy.

At the age of five, although he was small, he was so fast and moving that no one could get close to him. One of the coaches urged Foden's parents to send the video to Ferguson, but his father didn't do it.

At the age of six, Foden was playing for local junior club ReddishVulcans when his prodigious talent caught City's attention,

Although his father Phil Foden Senior was a Manchester United fan, at the age of eight Phil Foden junior joined Manchester City,

Following Foden's departure from ReddishVulcans, the tiny club warned City: "Remember his name, his balance and his incredible left foot skills!"

City academy director Jim Castle, recalling Foden's early years, added: "I've said it a million times, he's like Messi when he was a kid. He's got great balance, a great left foot, a great passing ability. He doesn't look confrontational at nine, but he definitely gives you a headache."

Mark Allen, Manchester City's academy director, praised Foden's talent: "He's an incredible learner. By the age of six, young players need to know all the basic skills, such as running with the ball, turning and dribbling. But you only have to show Foden once."

By the time Foden was 10, he had broken into City's Under-13 team. Former City youth coach Steve Ayre recalls: "One day we had two games at the same time - an Under-11 game and an Under-13 game. The Under-11s were quickly 9-0 up and it was too easy for Phil. So at half-time I asked him if he would like to join the Under-13 team halfway through that game, against Middlesbrough."

"I remember watching us put on a 10-year-old and the opposing coach was rubbing his hands on the sideline. Phil swooped in to score a header very quickly."

A number of rival clubs have been eyeing Foden, however, Foden's love of City has turned away many scouts who wanted to sign him,

Aguero scored his debut goal for Blue Moon against Swansea City on 15 August 2011, when Foden was the ball boy at the age of 11,

Foden has been a ball boy for three years, compared with a year in the normal echelon at City. Jason Wilcox, head of City's academy, said: "He asked to be a ball boy even when he was in the Under-16s and Under-18s. That's what he wanted to do."

He was also a ball boy at the last Premier League match between Manchester City and QPR in 2012 when Sergio Aguero scored the winner.

When Guardiola became manager of Manchester City in the summer of 2016, he watched an academy match and when he saw Foden in action, he jumped out of his chair and asked: "Who's No10? !"

Foden's talent has since been cemented in Guardiola's mind. "Txiki Begiristain [City's director] said to me when I first arrived, 'You have to meet this player, he is only 15-16 years old! 'I took him through two sessions and I told him,' Oh, you're right, he's good. '"

Foden made his debut for Manchester City in the Youth Premier League in the same year and started the 2016-17 season in the first team,

Foden made his first-team debut for Manchester City in the 1-0 Champions League win over Feyenoord on 21 November 2017;

Foden made his Premier League debut in the 4-1 win over Tottenham as a replacement for the injured Alvaro Kyndoin;

Foden made his League Cup debut when he started and played the full game in the 5-4 League Cup quarter-final win over Leicester City.

Foden's Manchester City shirt number, 47, remains the same, chosen because his grandfather Walter died in a car accident at the age of 47, and he will not change it unless he is given a number 10.

Foden was honoured with a winner's medal when Manchester City won 100 per cent in 2017-18 and became the youngest ever Premier League winner at 17 years and 350 days (beaten by Liverpool's Elliot),

He is also the first player born after 2000 to start in the Champions League and the youngest British player to start in the Champions League at the age of 17 years and 192 days.

England won the 2017 Under-17 World Cup, scoring twice as the Three Lions beat Spain 5-2 in the final, and he won the Ballon d 'Or award.

The series of feats saw Foden follow in the footsteps of Rooney and Murray in winning the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

Foden scored his first goal on all fronts in 2018-19, scoring his first for Manchester City in their 3-0 defeat of Oxford United in the Carling Cup third round.

Foden made his FA Cup debut and scored in the 7-0 win over Rotherham United;

Foden scored his debut goal in the Champions League 7-0 against Schalke in Manchester City's Champions League quarter-final.

Foden scored his Premier League debut with a five-minute winner in Manchester City's 1-0 win over Tottenham.

Foden won the League title, FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield with Manchester City in 2018-19.

Foden has played in a number of different positions under Guardiola and is seen as a possible successor to David Silva,

David Silva was a huge influence on Foden and gave him a lot of advice. He would often take time out to explain why he was doing certain things in a game, whether it was creating chances for his teammates or confusing the opposition. He passed on his playing secrets to Foden, and Foden found David Silva's methods very useful.

Foden said in an interview: "I've loved him since he joined the club. I get to see him in the flesh in training, so he's probably the player I learn the most from and look up to the most."

"He looks at the game differently than any other player. The way he finds space in tight areas, the way he catches the ball and carries it without losing it, I learned so much from him."

"When I was in the academy, I was a lot smaller than the other players, so I had to use my brain."

The 2019-20 season saw Foden make more appearances, especially after the return of the Premier League. He made 38 appearances throughout the season, including 18 starts, and produced eight goals and nine assists.

City have been less dominant this season, winning just one Carling Cup, and Foden was voted player of the tournament after setting up Aguero's goal in the 2-1 defeat of Villa in the final.

Reflecting on last season's performance, Foden said: "We can't afford to lose as many points as we did last season. It is not easy to win the Premier League title every year, it is the most difficult thing, so we are not too disappointed, we still finished second, the players will do everything to make themselves stronger.

"I will be as ready as possible. I want to be a key player, but it is not easy to stand on the pitch for City. I am an average player, but I have to earn my place."

Foden was named in the England squad on the back of his impressive performances for City, starting in the Europa League and Iceland, becoming the youngest City player to make his England debut since 2006,

But after the match, it was revealed that he and Manchester United starlet Greenwood had broken quarantine rules by taking a girl back to their hotel, and they were suspended from the international squad.

He later posted an apology on his social media account, saying he had made a bad decision and would learn from his mistake.

Remarkably, Foden became a father at the age of 18. In October 2018, Foden invited his family to move from Edgley, Stockport, to Bramhall, south Manchester, after buying a £2million home.

A month later, his childhood sweetheart Rebecca Cook gave birth to a son, Ronnie.

Foden was a ball nut, but he was also an avid angler, a sport he loved and practiced as well as football,

Foden fell in love with fishing because his father had taken him out fishing in the evenings from the age of seven, and he had read fishing books,

When not playing football or spending time with his children, Foden loves to go fishing. He skipped City's title celebration in 2017-18 because he had a night fishing appointment with his father,

"Very few people like fishing," Foden said. "People see you fishing and say, 'What's the fun?' They don't understand the fun of fishing. "People who say it's not fun should really try it. I think fishing is the best leisure activity. You can have a good rest and let your legs relax."

While the rest of his Manchester City team-mates went on holiday to St Tropez and Barcelona, he went fishing in Stoke and caught a giant catfish there.

Foden has made a brilliant start to the season and, of course, he has only just become a first-team regular. He is still only 20 years old and the "Stockport Iniesta" star has a long way to go.