As per a report in The Sun, Manchester United are interested in signing Man City’s midfield outcast Kalvin Phillips.
Phillips joined Manchester City from Leeds United with a lot of high hopes but his career graph has gone downwards since joining the Premier League champions. Since his move in the summer of 2022, the English midfielder has featured in only 29 games for the Cityzens.
The arrival of Kovacic and Matheus Nunes in the summer has not helped him either and in a recent interview, Pep Guardiola has made it clear that Kalvin Phillips has no future at the club.
Guardiola told reporters last week: “I don’t know what will happen to Kalvin Phillips. He has good character, I’m so sorry I have not picked him. I visualise my team and select a team and I struggle to see him.”
Since this statement, there have been reports that City will look to send him out during the January window with Newcastle United being one of the admirers but it looks like Man United have also joined the bandwagon.
Man United are looking to bring in a replacement for Casemiro who’s likely to be sold at the start of the new year and while Ten Hag is said to be an admirer of Phillips we are not sure if the midfielder will be too keen to join the Red Devils.
The 28-year-old is a Leeds United lad so he will think a million times before joining one of their fiercest rivals, more so because Newcastle United are also interested in signing him.
If Man United can sell Casemiro or Eriksen in January to one of the Saudi clubs then they will most certainly go after Phillips because neither Amrabat nor McTominay have been a success in the defensive midfielder’s role this season. Phillips was one of the best CDMs in the EPL during his Elland Road days and if he can dig up those same performances then United’s midfield woes will be sorted to a large extent.
We don’t think a permanent sale will be possible in January so a loan move for the remainder of the season looks most likely.
Kalvin Phillips was a mainstay in the England team but his problems at Man City have affected his selection for the Three Lions as well. Now, with the Euro 2024 coming up, the midfielder will have to make sure that he gets to play constantly for the second half of the season or else there’s no way Gareth Southgate is going to select him for the summer trip to Germany.
