Manchester City fans have claimed that Pep Guardiola could now be turning to a surprising option to bolster his ranks at right-back.
The Citizens had a busy summer on the transfer front, but they failed to bring in a new right-back, which fans are not happy about.
Pep Guardiola has been using Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis and Abdukodir Khusanov to cover the position after Kyle Walker’s departure.
However, none of the three are orthodox right-backs, which has resulted in Manchester City’s right flank becoming a weak link for opponents to exploit.
Now, City are said to be bringing a forgotten player back into the fold, and fans reckon he could very well be utilised at right-back.
Manchester City fans reckon Kalvin Phillips will be used at right-back
On Friday, it was reported that City were going to name Kalvin Phillips in their Premier League squad for the season.
It was a surprising report, considering Phillips has not played competitively for City in over 630 days.
However, the Citizens have had problems at both right-back and centre-back this season, which means Phillips could well be used as cover.
And City fans reckon Guardiola could now try to convert Phillips into a right-back, though admittedly, not all were buzzing with the idea.
“Just envisioned the Phillips resurgence at RB,” one fan wrote on X as he included a GIF of Will Smith saying “I’m not mad at that one.”
Another supporter said: “Kalvin Phillips was the new RB all along.”
The comments kept coming, with one fan saying: “He played him at CB in pre-season last year. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him at RB.”
Another wrote: “On everyone’s soul reading this Pep will put Phillips on RB vs Utd, Napoli and Arsenal”, along with a crying emoji.
And another said: “We gonna play Kelvin Phillips at RB this season omds we might actually be f—–.”
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Has Kalvin Phillips ever played at right-back?
Phillips has proven to be a fairly versatile player over the years – though he is a No. 6 by trade, he can also cover at No. 8 and at centre-back.
However, the 29-year-old is not believed to have ever played as a right-back in a competitive match.
| Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Defensive Midfield | 164 | 8 | 13 |
| Central Midfield | 95 | 8 | 1 |
| Centre-Back | 20 | – | – |
| Right Midfield | 1 | – | – |
However, Phillips is on record as having played on the right side of midfield one time in his career, but this was the shortest of cameos a long time ago.
This appearance came all the way back in 2016, when he got two minutes off the bench as a RM in a Championship win over Sheffield Wednesday in August of that year.
With that in mind, Phillips would be going into uncharted territory if Guardiola was really considering using him as a right-back.
However, stranger things have certainly happened in football.
