Phil Foden suggests Man City have a player who’s even stronger than Erling Haaland

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Phil Foden has overlooked Erling Haaland when building his perfect footballer, instead selecting a number of his other current and former Manchester City teammates.

The Norwegian hitman is one of the most imposing strikers in world football, often getting into intense battles, and more than holding his own, with the likes of Gabriel and Virgil van Dijk.

However, Foden has instead opted to name another Manchester City attacker, Jeremy Doku, as ‘one of the strongest players’ he has seen.

Phil Foden highlights Jeremy Doku’s strength

Speaking to ‘thisisfg_’ via TikTok, the Englishman was asked to build his perfect footballer using a variety of metrics.

For the left foot, Foden unsurprisingly decided to select Lionel Messi, while former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo was chosen for the right foot.

He then picked his first City teammate when choosing the player with the best mentality.

Foden said: “You know who I’m going to say for this, surprise a lot of people, Bernardo [Silva]. I think his mentality is underrated.”

For speed, there are no prizes for guessing that the England international picked ex-City right-back Kyle Walker.

But when it came to strength, Foden did not choose Haaland, instead saying: “Honestly one of the strongest people, I’m not even lying, Jeremy [Doku]. Anyone I’ve seen, he’s so strong.”

For the remainder of his picks, the Man City ace selected Maradona for dribbling, Brazilian Ronaldo for shooting, Vincent Kompany for heading, and Silva again for leadership.

Pep Guardiola’s big Jeremy Doku claim

Foden has now been playing with Doku since 2023, but the winger has really come into his own in 2025/26.

He is enjoying his most prolific season at the Etihad Stadium, scoring eight and assisting 14, ahead of Man City facing Chelsea in the FA Cup final.

Amid his upturn in form this term, Pep Guardiola was recently asked if Doku had developed into one of the most dangerous forwards in world football, to which he replied: “Yes absolutely I completely agree.

“Always he had this ability when he has the ball, to drop the team with the dribbles but we miss maybe the last pass or the goals.

“But this season he made an incredible step forward, which players must do. To try to get better and better.

“It belongs absolutely to him the confidence to try it. Always against good teams you need good players up front, not just Erling and look at Omar today.”