Kalvin Phillips, who was once a key player for Leeds United, has spoken out candidly in frustration about the awkwardness he experienced while playing for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City signed Phillips in 2022 for a reported initial £42 million to sign the midfielder with another £3 million due in add-ons. The former Leeds midfielder had been signed to compete for a midfield spot with Rodri and to fill the gap left by Fernandinho, who left the squad after nine years at the Etihad.
However, the 28-year-old Phllips’ move from Elland Road turned out unexpectedly to be a bumpy one and didn’t go as planned. He was sent out on loan to West Ham United during the 2023-24 season although it was a brief stint. He was then sent out on loan to Ipswich Town this summer, as the player looks to get his career back on track.
Speaking candidly on BBC Sport’s My Mate’s a Footballer podcast, Phillips opened up about how manager Pep Guardiola’s telling comments about his weight after the World Cup in Qatar had adversely impacted his time at City and continued to impact his career even after he left the club.
“That narrative on social media just grew and grew,” Phillips said (h/t EPL index). “Every club that I’d go to, I spoke to, like the manager and the nutritionist and stuff like that, they’d always speak about weight before they’d say anything else. It peed me off a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it.”
Phillips also mentioned that Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna wants him to return to his Leeds days and be the standout player he was at Elland Road.
“The manager is an unbelievable person as well as a manager and he spoke about all the past in my career and told me he just wanted me to get to where I was at Leeds.”
It will be interesting to see if this loan stint with the Premier League newcomers is what Phillips needs to jumpstart his career because he’s in his prime years and should be playing the best football of his career, which could come with Ipswich.