Some behind-the-scenes details have emerged regarding Kalvin Phillips’ early days at Manchester City.
The midfielder recently completed a loan move to West Ham United until the end of the season after failing to become a regular starter in Pep Guardiola’s side.
With the Englishman now hoping to find some minutes with the Hammers, some behind-the-scenes details have emerged that have shed some light on why his move to City has not panned out in the way they had hoped.
City were unsure of Phillips
A recent report from The Athletic had this to say on the matter.
It said: “No sooner had pre-season training begun later that month than Pep Guardiola and his staff had some concerns.
“They noted, even at that early stage, how Phillips seemed to struggle with the intricacies of City’s holding-midfielder role and, although [Romeo] Lavia was sold in the knowledge that, at 18 years old, he would not have been given much first-team exposure anyway, the club’s coaches realised the young Belgian was a more natural fit than their new arrival.”
City paid £45m to Leeds United to sign Phillips in the 2022 summer transfer window, the same window where they sold Lavia to Southampton for £12m, before he then went on to join Chelsea for a fee of £58m over a year later.
With just 31 appearances under his belt as a City player, the 27-year-old only started six games, which shows how much he struggled to have any sort of significant impact in the team.
If Guardiola and his coaching staff were initially unsure about Phillips’ ability to play the way they wanted him to and has since been unable to force his way into the team, we feel that the club have to be questioned in terms of why they decided to sign him in the first place when they could have kept hold of Lavia instead.
