Phil Foden, quite rightly, wore his Carabao Cup winner’s medal with pride at Wembley on Sunday evening.
And yet again the grumblers and grousers declared that he had been let down by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. He and Aro Muric had started every game up until the final, but were both nudged aside as the Blues took on Chelsea.
It has become vogue to portray every Foden absence from the City first team as a kick in the teeth, not just for the Stockport teenager, but for the whole, expensive, City academy set-up.
In fact, the way Guardiola is treating Foden is a compliment to the youngster, a show of faith in his ability and a nudge that he still has improvements to make if he is to become a first team regular.
At the age of 18 years and 274 days, Foden is a permanent member of the first team squad and has just penned a new deal aimed at keeping him at the club for the foreseeable future.
The fact he is granted no favours, given no shoves on the basis of his youth, is a compliment, even if it must seem like a back-handed one at times, when you are a teenager who badly wants to play.
Guardiola treats Foden in the same way as he treats £60million record buy Riyad Mahrez. He is apologetic at being unable to pick him regularly, but the challenge is clear – to dislodge David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Ilkay Gundogan, you have to show you are better than them.
Foden has that potential, but his game has plenty of rough edges. He admitted himself, after his two-goal man of the match display at Newport, that the defensive side of his game is not good enough.
But this is a player who, at a tender age, has won the Premier League and two League Cups, not to mention leading England to their Under-17 World Cup triumph.
He has made 30 first team appearances, 13 of them in the league, and 11 of them starts.Compare that to the fabled Class of ‘92 down the road at Manchester United.
History does not record Alex Ferguson being berated for failing to to give David Beckham or Paul Scholes more games, two of the brightest young lights of their generation.
And yet neither of them had made their first team debut for the Reds when they were Foden’s age.Beckham was 20 years and seven months old by the time he had played that many first team games for United, nearly two years older than Foden.
To be fair, Beckham did spend a season on loan at Preston, a move which Guardiola has been adamant that Foden does not need – another compliment, as he insists he is Premier League-ready right now.
Paul Scholes did not go on loan, so a comparison with him especially as he also played in the heat of the midfield battle is perhaps more pertinent. Salford-born Scholes was 19 years and ten months old when he made his debut, more than two years later than Foden.
He was 20 years and nine months old by the time he had clocked up 30 first team appearances, again taking nearly two years longer than Foden.
The fact that Foden was happy to commit his future to City shows that he and his camp know they are being correctly handled, and can see the opportunities which will open up in the next two years.