Manchester City were given a day off on Thursday and Phil Foden headed for Towyn, a small seaside resort between Abergele and Rhyl on the North Wales coast.Only about an hour from home, it’s renowned for the family amusement parks and ever competitive, Foden made sure that a furry toy was extracted from one of those seemingly impossible claw machines at Knightly’s funfair, delivered to delighted children back at the rented caravan half a mile inland.He looked particularly pleased to defeat the game and the 26-year-old now needs to master the grabber of his own destiny with the same certainty. This is undoubtedly the biggest season of Foden’s career, starting against Bournemouth on Sunday.There has been the downtime, the holidays, visits to the Formula One at Silverstone and Wimbledon. The heaps of fishing down towards the Midlands, the extra sessions with individual coach Jamie Reynolds abroad or in the astroturf cage he’s built in the garden.That is all done and the business begins this weekend. He should be recharged after missing out on the World Cup – Enzo Maresca was straight on the phone to check on him following Thomas Tuchel’s squad announcement – and is talking about a fresh start.Foden has spoken about his mental health over the past two years, amid a malaise in the aftermath of winning PFA Player of the Year in 2024, but says he is ‘feeling better’ with a clearer mind. He has made noises about holding down one position rather than flitting, while the way in which Maresca has set up over the past few weeks suggests a direction competition with Rayan Cherki. Phil Foden, who showed some encouraging signs in Manchester City’s loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield, says he’s ‘feeling better’ after an average season last year However, Foden did allow Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly to get away from him and set up the Gunners’ first goal at the Principality There is a recognition from the academy graduate, whose new four-year contract signed last month signifies a real show of faith by the club, that the past two years have fallen way below expectations, although there was a flurry of strong performances before Christmas last season. Foden had returned to somewhere close to his best for a spell before dipping again, with one disagreement inside the dressing room with Pep Guardiola on the night of January’s defeat at Bodo/Glimt not shown on the new Prime Video documentary series.Guardiola and Foden’s relationship was always described by sources as paternal and after 10 years together, perhaps change can be of benefit. Maresca views it as his responsibility to coerce the maximum out of somebody whose unquestionable talent should see him walk into the England team if his mind is settled and performances are consistent.‘You can see he’s sharp, he’s good,’ Maresca said. ‘Since day one, he looks very, very good. People inside the building are saying to me that compared to last year or the last two years, he’s a completely different player in terms of mood, what he’s showing during sessions, and this is what we want.’With City taking a youthful squad on their pre-season tour of Asia, the Italian threw Foden the armband before Ruben Dias arrived from a post-World Cup holiday. ‘I’ve been at the club for so long, I’m one of the longest here so this season I have to be one of the leaders, one of the captains,’ Foden said. ‘I’m looking forward to new responsibility and trying to take leadership.’Maresca will decide on the four-man captain team at the end of a fraught transfer window and wants an Englishmen among them, with Marc Guehi an obvious suitable option.In the short term though, having greater impact on matches will suffice. They have been pleased with Foden’s attentiveness in training and willingness to learn the tweaked concepts, although need those displays behind closed doors to translate on a matchday.Tuchel revealed back in March that Foden’s application in training has never been an issue, and that he mesmerises staff, but cannot replicate the same ‘verve and excitement’ when pulling on the jersey. Much the same has occurred at City and the job is to build his confidence. City have utilised all available help at their disposal. Pep Guardiola and Foden’s relationship was always described by sources as paternal and after 10 years together, perhaps change can be of benefit Foden signed a new five-year deal at City last month – a real show of faith by the club Even if Maresca insisted that Foden played well last Sunday, they will want more from him after losing a crucial duel in the opening seconds of the Community Shield to Myles Lewis-Skelly in the build-up to Arsenal’s first goal. But the smile is there, the desire to improve and recapture that class harnessed by Guardiola.He should be looking at the record number of appearances, standing at 680 and still held by Alan Oakes from half a century ago. Foden, 26, is 310 behind with what ought to be his best years ahead of him. If he gets close, or surpasses Oakes, then there will have been a turnaround in fortunes. He should be looking at gatecrashing the list of top scorers and nudging himself near Kevin De Bruyne’s 176 assists too. He’s on 68 now.It is what City crave. Why they gave him the new contract. There is a belief that the real Phil Foden can return.And to underline what a homebird he is, the boy from Stockport, just hours after City landed from South Korea, was back mingling on Edgeley High Street with extended family – despite that being almost an hour from his Cheshire mansion.‘Phil is from the academy, from the house,’ Maresca said. ‘So it’s nice for everyone to see him getting better and better.’