Kalvin Phillips has brushed off speculation about his future and says he will stay at Manchester City this summer, with an eye on emulating the Etihad upturn that has seen the likes of Jack Grealish and Nathan Ake flourish in their second seasons.
Phillips has been a fleeting presence in the City starting line-up following a £42million move from Leeds United last summer and has been frustrated at his lack of starts, prompting speculation he might leave. Newcastle United and West Ham are among the teams that have been linked with Phillips but an enquiry from the former was rebuffed by City.
Phillips joined with hamstring and shoulder injuries and puts a large part of his struggle for game time down to rehabbing those problems for the first few months of his City career. But he says he’s felt 100 per cent “for some time”.
Nevertheless he didn’t begin a game in the Premier League until the title was wrapped up and was an unused substitute for the Champions League final in Istanbul.
But all is not lost. Phillips only needs to look across the England dressing room at man of the moment Grealish, who was in and out of the City team in his maiden season before establishing himself as a key man this term, for inspiration.
A smart second-half cameo in England’s evisceration of North Macedonia on Monday – including his first international goal – was a reminder of what Phillips can do and the player says he will seek talks with Pep Guardiola when he returns to pre-season training in a month.
“My intention is to stay there,” he said.
“We have just won the Treble, so there is no reason for me to leave other than if I am not playing [which] I will obviously have to think about it.
“I cannot give it 12 months and say I am not playing so I am going to leave. As you have seen with many players at City, it can take quite a while to cement yourself into the team. Hopefully I will enjoy my off season and then work hard when I get back.”
Guardiola’s unrelenting standards dovetail with his exacting tactical and technical requirements at City to make life difficult for many new signings.
Phillips says both Ake and Grealish told him their first year under Guardiola was the hardest of their careers. The duo have gone on to become key parts of the treble winning team and Phillips thinks he’s now armed with enough knowledge to make inroads next season.
“Just [I] know how difficult it is to understand the way Pep wants to play and how quickly you need to adapt to play in his system,” he said.
“I am on the brink of almost getting it. Obviously there is a little bit of work in pre-season and hopefully [I’ll] be alright.”
He rejoins a team set on world domination next season after a treble that prompted riotous celebrations and censure from some critics who accused City, and Grealish in particular, of overdoing it.
“I just find it quite funny,” Phillips said.
“We are all young lads, we were always going to go out and enjoy ourselves and Jack more than anyone was getting the headlines but everyone was the same.
“Everyone was enjoying it as much as Jack was. In past years when Man United won the Treble I dread to think what they were doing at that time.
“It was a great time to celebrate and spend it with my family as well.”
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