Euro 2024 comment: Why Cesc Fabregas and Lamine Yamal have done Phil Foden - and England - a favour

They are the ones who are ultimately listened to and should not be ignored. Which brings us to Phil Foden.

Away from prying eyes at England’s Blankenhain training headquarters in the old East Germany - a fair distance away from where he stepped out at Gelsenkirchen on Sunday evening in his country’s Group C opener against Serbia - Manchester City’s mercurial midfielder would be well served to listen to what a great in Cesc Fabregas had to say about his performance in his role as a pundit for the BBC.

A class operator in his playing days for Spain, Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea - and also a two-time European Championship winner and a World Cup winner - the 37-year-old’s comments on Foden were as on the money as the trademark piercing passes he used to deliver in the direction of Thierry Henry and David Villa.

The post-match discussion turned to Foden, whose contributions for his country continue to be too intermittent and infuriating for a player of his undoubted brio, whose sorcery in the blue of City has unhinged countless opponents in recent seasons.

He is not the reigning Premier League player of the season for nothing, after all.

Fabregas’ take was perceptive and revealing and worth repeating. Whereas Jude Bellingham was matadorial, Foden, who has scored one tournament goal in 35 caps for the Three Lions, was muted.

Fabregas said: “In the same world, you see Jude (Bellingham) imposing himself and wanting the ball and getting face to face against an opponent, he oozes this class. He (Foden) needs to do this himself as well.

"A player of this class, level and talent, for me sometimes doesn’t even need to be told by the coach what to do. He needs to want it more than the rest.

"And for me, it showed me that Jude is a little bit above him in this regard and he (Foden) needs to get this personality back and do what he does at Manchester.

"When England played the best football is when Serbia allowed them to have the ball, but in the second half when they started to get pressed a little bit more, we started to see Foden hitting the ball 40 yards without looking – it’s not like them.

"You’d never see Xavi or Andres Iniesta – the top, top, top players of the last 15 or 20 years – do that. No, you need to take the responsibility."

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The so-called ‘Stockport Iniesta’ is feted on the blue side of Manchester and has proved his worth to one of the best coaching brains ever in Pep Guardiola.

Yet as Fabregas rightly points out, the leading players don’t need to be told, their ability to work out a match situation is super-quick. Among the best qualities of the best is understanding.

Which brings us to comments once made by another great midfielder who knows in Graeme Souness.

When he joined Liverpool in 1978, he asked Joe Fagan, that esteemed Svengali of Anfield, about his role. The answer he received was short and sweet.

Souness said: "I said to Joe Fagan, how do you want me to play? He told me to f**k off, 'we spent all this money on you and you're asking me how to play?'

The top players process things themselves and adapt - whether it be on the left, on the right or in the centre.

The passion in which Fabregas spoke about Foden conveyed a professional who knows he has so much more in his locker than he showed against Serbia.

His 64 touches included just one in the penalty area.

A loyal manager, expect Gareth Southgate to persist with Foden against the Danes with the 24-year-old likely to be given another chance to play his way into the tournament. But with Anthony Gordon said to be making an impression at Blankenhain and Cole Palmer also firmly on the scene, it is Foden’s interests - and most people’s in fact - to step up.

The opening Euro 2024 salvos have already seen some stellar talents excel and announce themselves in the likes of Germany’s Jamal Musiala and Spain’s Lamine Yamal to name but two.

The latter has already made history by becoming the youngest ever player to appear in the European Championship at 16 years and 338 days and has already emphatically proved the adage that if you are good enough, you are old enough.

His cross that he served up on a plate for Dani Carvajal to put Spain 3-0 ahead against Croatia was sumptuous. And then there’s Bellingham, who continues to perform with the equivalent of a Superman cape on his back at the age of 20.

The professional pride in Foden must surely be wanting a piece of this for himself.