Kalvin Phillips is not having the best of times at Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and ahead of the Premier League match against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, he is being tipped to make the move to the Gunners.
Manchester City signed Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United in the summer of 2022.
Phillips starred for Leeds in the Championship and then in the Premier League.
The move to City was expected to take the England international midfielder to the next level.
However, Phillips is struggling to make an impact at City.
Even with Rodri suspended, there is no guarantee that City manager Pep Guardiola will play him against Arsenal in the Premier League match on Sunday.
There has been speculation linking the £150,000-a-week (Spotrac) midfielder with a move to Arsenal in the January transfer window.
Kalvin Phillips tipped to leave Manchester City for Arsenal
And, former USA international defender and ESPN FC pundit Janusz Michallik believes that Phillips could end up at Arsenal in the future.
Michallik said on ESPN about Phillips and Arsenal: “Possible, I mean, yeah, it’s possible if they play together (Rice and Phillips).
“I wouldn’t say it’s a vote of no confidence in Kai Havertz if he’s going to be there, but Odegaard and Rice pick themselves.
“If we look at Phillips he’s not a holding midfielder, even though he has had to play there quite often.
“I can see it. Mikel Arteta comes from Man City and we’ve seen players move to Arsenal in the past, he knows him I suppose even though he wasn’t there at the time, I can see it, I can see why Kalvin Phillips would want to go there.
“A certain amount of risk because of injuries and we haven’t seen a very good Kalvin Phillips since he was at Leeds at the beginning under Marcelo Bielsa.
“It’s a better move for Phillips and more risk for Arsenal I suppose.”
My View: Pep Guardiola should not sell Kalvin Phillips to Arsenal
I think that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola should not sanction a move for Kalvin Phillips to Arsenal, if indeed the Gunners came calling.
True, Phillips has not been a success at City, and it is unlikely that the 27-year-old will star for the Citizens.
However, that does not mean that the midfielder could not be a success elsewhere, especially at Arsenal.
Arsenal are now serious challengers for the Premier League title.
The Gunners already signed Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from City.
And, that helped Arsenal last season.
City cannot afford to sell another of their squad players to Arsenal and make the Gunners even better.
