Manchester City's Phil Foden, not Harry Kane, is the best young player Kyle Walker has ever seen.

Foden, 20, is a product of City's academy and has been tipped to be the long-term successor to David Silva in midfield.

A technically gifted playmaker, Foden has made 20 Premier League appearances this season, already seven more than the 13 he made in 2018-19, while three of his six starts have come since football resumed last month after the coronavirus hiatus.

With Silva set to depart at the end of the season, Foden looks poised to take on a more integral role next term, and former Tottenham star Walker is excited to see what the England Under-21 international goes on to achieve.

"The sky is the limit [for Foden]," Walker said. "He is the best youngster I have ever seen.

"That is after playing at Tottenham with the likes of Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend, Steven Caulker, Harry Winks, who are very, very good players.

"Phil is leaps ahead of them for me, just because his knowledge of the game. I don't know if it is because he is constantly watching David Silva and learning from him, or just his knowledge of the game.

"I think if he just improves on his final ball on assisting and his final decision-making on that, I think that comes with experience. As a player and as a human being, he is top class and I wish him all the best in everything that he does because he deserves it all."

Walker was similarly glowing of Raheem Sterling, applauding his England colleague's work-rate.

The former Liverpool attacker netted a hat-trick in the 5-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, taking him to within one goal of his personal best for a single Premier League season of 18.

"Raz [Sterling] has proved a lot of people wrong," Walker added. "Since I have been training with him he has worked hard, devoted himself to the game and on wanting to become a better player, I think he is getting the rewards now.

"To score lucky goals like he did at the weekend is being in the right place at the right time, and before that would have probably hit his head and gone wide and now it is in the back of the net.

"I think that is a reward for the hard work he has been putting in on a weekly basis in the training sessions."