Pep Guardiola seems to have made a deliberate slip suggesting he believes Kalvin Phillips could have a future at Manchester City.
The former Leeds United midfielder joined the Cityzens two years ago and has struggled since then at the Etihad, having failed to impress the Spaniard.
Awarded just five Premier League starts since his transfer, the 28-year-old was compelled to accept a loan move to West Ham for the second half of last season, but after enduring a torrid time with the Hammers, the midfielder’s latest setback saw him excluded from the England squad for this summer’s EUROs.
And with the new season now underway, Phillips has recently been unveiled as Ipswich Town’s latest loanee in his desperation to reignite his career,.
Yorkshire born, the playmaker has teamed up with Kieran McKenna and joined Ipswich on a season-long loan, and Guardiola believes the move was the best this for his underperforming number eight.
“He has to have minutes, he has to recover game time, play, play, play, play,” the City boss told reporters, as quoted by the Mirror.
Pep Guardiola had given his nod for Kalvin Phillips to join Ipswich Town on loan for the season.
“And we thought that maybe he would not have the minutes he would have, that he deserves to have.”
And surprisingly, although Guardiola has barely used Phillips, the Spaniard has kept the Etihad door open for him.
“It’s better for him to have minutes to maybe, in the future, have the chance to come back to Man City,” he added.
With four years left on his deal Phillips still has time to turn things around but a solid season at Portman Road is an absolute necessity.
First up for Phillips and his new Ipswich side is a tricky home Premier League tie against Arne Slot’s Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.