Phil Foden to join same agency that oversaw Harry Kane's rise to fame

Phil Foden is set to join the Unique Sports Group agency, who oversaw Harry Kane’s rise in football.

The Manchester City midfielder, 21, underlined his status as one of the Premier League’s brightest young stars during the international break with England and is now set to join team-mates Reece James and Sam Johnstone as USG players. It is understood long-term associate and advisor Owen Brown is still involved with Foden at a high level.

USG led the race to land the PFA Young Players Of The Year, who is poised to sign a new six-year contract at Manchester City and was selected by Gareth Southgate in World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary in the last week.

Set up 12 years ago, the agency also represents Michail Antonio and Andros Townsend, who have been the standout performers of 2020/21 so far. They also guided Kane’s career from his time in Tottenham’s Academy and represented him until his family started looking after his affairs.

Landing Foden is a massive coup following the player's start to his career at City. He has three Premier League winners’ medals and last season established himself as a key player under Pep Guardiola.

He spoke last week about the impact of his agent and mentor Richard Green passing away from Covid-19 in April. “It was hard to deal with for the family because he was so close to us, he was part of the family,” said Foden last week when asked about Green.

USG were previously known as Unique Sports Management and rebranded this week after joining forces with German company International Sports Management, taking their roster of players past 300 and adding the likes of Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu, Matthias Ginter at Borussia Monchengladbach and AS Monaco striker Kevin Volland.

Their players have featured in a social-media campaign with a series of short stories about their own football journey, with the slogan, "Don't tell me I can't".

USG were also considered one of the big winners in the last transfer window, as they negotiated transfers for Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey to Aston Villa, Jannik Vestergaard’s move to Leicester City, then late deals for Takehiro Tomiyasu, Hwang Hee-Chan and Maxwel Cornet.