Leeds United told to re-sign ‘insecure’ Kalvin Phillips after Pep Guardiola stance
Daily Mirror journalist Neil Moxley has urged Leeds to bring Kalvin Phillips ‘home’, with the midfielder out of favour at both West Ham United and parent club Manchester City.
Phillips couldn’t be further out of the picture at Manchester City. Moxley believes that Pep Guardiola simply “doesn’t want him”, and that the best move the midfielder could make in the upcoming summer transfer window is a move back to Elland Road.
Following Phillips’ horror show of a cameo against Newcastle United, in which he conceded a penalty moments after being substituted on and lost Harvey Barnes for the Magpies’ winner, Moxley revealed the contents of an interview with the West Ham loanee after his red card against Nottingham Forest just a few weeks earlier.
Amidst some of the lowest points of his career – most of which have come since leaving Leeds for City – Moxley said Phillips’ honesty was “refreshing. He was forthright.
“He said that he didn’t have to leave (City), but he wanted to – to play football because that’s what he is, a footballer,” said Moxley (Sunday Mirror, page 63, 7 April).
No better place for Phillips to reassert himself than Elland Road
It would be unwise to pitch Leeds as the only suitors for Phillips this summer, particularly given that prior to Marcelo Bielsa’s revolution at Elland Road, the then-22-year-old was far from the first name on the team sheet.
His transformation into a midfield lynchpin was the making of Leeds’ promotion, and it’s clear to see that Phillips, now 28, needs another reset similar to the one provided by Bielsa if he is to resurrect his spiralling career.
Locked in a four-way race for two Championship promotion spots, there are no guarantees that the Whites will be in a position to bring Phillips ‘home’, even on loan, or that he would fit Daniel Farke’s style of play
