Kalvin Phillips has named fellow Manchester City teammate, Jack Grealish, as one of his main inspirations at this stage of his career.
The midfielder will be preparing to take on his second season with the Citizens over the next few weeks after having a fairly quiet debut campaign.
With City’s pre-season schedule set to kick off next week, the Englishman has been sharing his thoughts on it and named the one player he will be looking to emulate over the coming months.
Phillips names Grealish as his inspiration
Speaking in a recent interview with talkSPORT, Phillips said this about Grealish and how much he admires him and what he’s done at City.
He said: “I’ve known Jack for years, I’ve played against him for years. He’s very much a family man as well, he loves his family, keeps them very close.
“He’s obviously had his tough times when he was young as well so, [our] career paths have taken, basically, the same step, just a year apart.
“I look at Jack and just think he’s my inspiration at this part because he had a tough first year and so did I and the second year he came out flying.
“I’m looking forward to getting preseason started and hopefully I can turn things around.”
After joining Pep Guardiola’s side last summer from Leeds United in a deal worth £45m, the 27-year-old started just four of the 21 games he appeared in across all competitions last season.
In terms of Grealish, having scored three goals and provided three goals in his debut Premier League campaign with City, he recently brought an end to his second season with five goals and seven assists to his name in the top-flight, which highlights the improvement he’s had since his early days as a City player.
This also shows why Phillips sees the winger as someone he wants to emulate in terms of having a big impact in the team, as long as he can get the minutes to prove himself.
Moving forward, given his lack of game time last season, the England international will have a big job on his hands to convince Guardiola in pre-season that he has what it takes to be a regular figure in the team.
