Phil Foden highlighted the scale of change at Manchester City on social media by sharing the squad photo from the 2018/19 season. He edited the image so that every player who has since left the club appeared in black and white. The conclusion was striking: Foden is the only one still there.
Phil Foden becomes last remaining player from Manchester City 2018/19 squad
Phil Foden has become the last remaining member of Manchester City 2018/19 squad still at the club, a remarkable reflection of just how dramatically elite football teams can change in the space of only a few years. The England international highlighted that transformation himself on social media by sharing the squad photograph from that season and showing just how many familiar faces have since disappeared from the Etihad Stadium. Every player who had moved on was marked differently in the image, leaving Foden as the sole survivor from a group that once formed the core of one of the strongest teams in English football.
The image provides a striking reminder of the speed at which squads evolve at the highest level. Transfer activity has become increasingly intense across European football, with even successful teams constantly looking to refresh their options, replace ageing players and adapt to new tactical demands. Manchester City are no exception. Despite enjoying sustained success over recent years, the club have repeatedly changed important parts of their squad, meaning that a group which once appeared highly settled has gradually been dismantled. Eight years after the 2018/19 season, Foden is now the only player from that squad still wearing City colours.
Foden remains while an entire generation moves on
Foden position is particularly significant because of his connection with the club. He has been part of Manchester City since 2009 and has never represented another team, progressing through the academy before establishing himself in the senior side. While experienced internationals arrived and departed around him, Foden remained, developing from one of the most highly rated youngsters in the City system into a senior member of the squad. His continuity stands in sharp contrast to the huge amount of movement elsewhere in the team, and the old squad photograph now illustrates just how unusual it is for a player to remain at the same elite club throughout such a long period of change.
The departures of John Stones and Bernardo Silva this summer effectively completed that transformation. Both players had been among the final links to the 2018/19 squad, but their exits left Foden completely alone as the last representative of that era. Stones and Bernardo had both spent many years at City and were among the players most closely associated with the club successful period, so their departures carry additional symbolic significance. Once they left, the transition from the old squad to the current generation became complete, with Foden providing the only remaining connection between the two.
A long list of Manchester City departures
The scale of the turnover becomes even clearer when looking at the names who have left Manchester City since that 2018/19 campaign. Goalkeepers Éderson Moraes and Claudio Bravo moved on, while the defence was gradually transformed following the departures of Aymeric Laporte, Nicolás Otamendi, Eric García, Pablo Marí, Benjamin Mendy, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Angeliño, Kyle Walker, Philippe Sandler, Eliaquim Mangala and club captain Vincent Kompany. Some had been central figures in the first team, while others had more limited roles, but together their exits demonstrate how completely the defensive group from that period has been replaced.
The same process took place in midfield. Fernandinho, Ilkay Gündogan, Fabian Delph, Aleix García, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Felix Nmecha and Douglas Luiz all eventually left Manchester City, taking with them an enormous amount of experience and quality. Several of those players had been central to the identity of the team, particularly during the years in which City established themselves as one of the dominant forces in English football. Others departed earlier in search of more regular playing time or different opportunities, but the overall result was the same: a midfield group once packed with familiar names was gradually replaced by a new generation.
City attack also completely transformed
Manchester City attacking department has undergone an equally dramatic transformation. Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané, Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Brahim Díaz, Jack Harrison and Sergio Agüero have all left the club since the 2018/19 season. Agüero in particular represented an era of his own at City, while Sterling, Sané and Mahrez were major attacking options during different stages of the club successful run. Gabriel Jesus also played an important role before eventually continuing his career elsewhere. Once again, Foden is the player who has remained while the attacking cast around him has repeatedly changed.
That constant turnover is not necessarily a sign of instability. At clubs operating at the highest level, squad renewal has become an essential part of maintaining competitiveness. Players age, contracts approach their expiry dates, tactical requirements change and opportunities arise in the transfer market. Manchester City have therefore continued to reshape their squad even while winning trophies, rather than waiting for an entire team to decline before beginning a rebuild. The gradual nature of that process perhaps explains why the scale of the change is easy to overlook until an image such as the one shared by Foden places the old and new eras side by side.
Eight years of evolution at the Etihad
The 2018/19 squad represented a particular stage in Manchester City development, but very little of that group now remains. Over the following seasons, experienced players departed, academy graduates moved elsewhere and new signings arrived to take their places. Some exits were planned well in advance, while others reflected the normal movement of the transfer market. What is remarkable is that the process eventually reached the point where only one player from the entire group remained.
For Foden, the comparison also offers a visual record of his own development. In 2018/19 he was still one of the younger members of the squad, surrounded by established internationals who had already accumulated years of experience at the highest level. He now finds himself in a very different position. Many of those senior figures have gone, and Foden has become one of the players with the deepest connection to Manchester City current squad. His role within the club has naturally changed as a consequence, even if his status as an academy product has remained the same.
Foden now represents continuity at Manchester City
The fact that Foden has never played for another club adds another layer to the story. Modern football increasingly sees leading players move between leagues and major clubs during their careers, making long-term one-club associations less common than they once were. Foden journey has been different. He joined the Manchester City system as a youngster, progressed through the academy and remained at the club while virtually every player who surrounded him during his early first-team years moved elsewhere.
That continuity now makes him a natural link between different generations of Manchester City teams. He shared dressing rooms with Kompany, David Silva, Agüero and Fernandinho, later played alongside De Bruyne, Gündogan, Walker, Stones and Bernardo, and has continued to remain part of the squad as another group of players has arrived. Very few footballers experience such a complete transformation of a team while staying in the same place, and the social media post captured that reality in a particularly simple way.
A single photograph tells the story of a changing club
What makes the image so effective is that it turns years of transfer activity into something immediately visible. Looking at individual transfers over several seasons can make squad changes appear gradual, but placing the entire 2018/19 group together reveals the scale of what has happened. Player by player, virtually the whole team has disappeared from Manchester City, leaving only Foden behind. The photograph therefore functions almost like a timeline of the club recent history, showing how one successful generation gave way to another without the transition always being obvious from season to season.
The departures of Stones and Bernardo this summer brought that process to its natural conclusion. Until recently, Foden still had teammates around him who had shared the 2018/19 season, but that link has now been reduced to one player. Manchester City squad has been almost completely rebuilt, yet Foden remains in place as the constant presence connecting the current team with one of the most memorable periods of the previous era.
For supporters, the post also serves as a reminder of how quickly football moves. A squad filled with players who once seemed inseparable from Manchester City has gradually dispersed across different clubs and countries, while some have already ended their playing careers. Foden, meanwhile, has gone from being one of the youngest members of the group to becoming its final representative at the Etihad. In an era defined by constant transfer activity, that level of continuity has become increasingly rare, making his position within the club all the more notable.
