Kalvin Phillips breaks silence on transfer speculation - MOT Leeds News 6/5/22
By George Overhill
Kalvin Phillips says he “always will be” happy at Leeds
United and will focus on that “until my contract ends” amid increasing transfer
speculation.
The England midfielder was subject to a bid from West Ham in
January, and is widely reported to be a serious target for summer approaches
from Aston Villa and Manchester United.
He currently has a contract at the club until 2024, with
mooted talks on a new one have not yet resulted in anything, and are thought to
be on hold pending a change of agents ahead of the summer, but the 26-year-old
says he isn’t worried about the situation.
He told BBC Radio Leeds’ Adam Pope on if he plans to stay:
“Yeah definitely. I’ve made what I want to do clear. I’ve made my intentions
clear that I want to be at Leeds.
“I’ll focus on that until my contract ends. It’s always been
something that I’ve not really worried about too much. It’s always been
something that I’ve been confident would get sorted when it needs sorting.
“There’s always going to be noise when you’re an England
international and you’re playing for one of the biggest teams in the country.
“I think until the end of the season I’ll be happy at Leeds,
and always will be.”
Weight lifted?
Nothing is 100% concrete in the world of football but if the
conditions are right for it he surely stays at Elland Road.
While the interview with Pope didn’t address what would
happen in this regard were the club to be relegated, something Phillips says he
tries “not to think about”, that is the elephant in the room.
It would be very rare for an international star to spend a
season, at least, in the second tier, especially in light of the financial
constraints the drop would cause.
He is very clear that he wants to be at Leeds, but that
doesn’t automatically mean that the club are able to make that happen.
The boyhood fan could justifiably leave if the club go down,
or if they were to low-ball him over a new contract, and maintain that he
didn’t want to go.
And the specific mention that he will be happy “until the
end of the season” suggests the contract talks will be important in the summer.
This is no guarantee that he will be playing at Elland Road
for the rest of his career, but his hope has been made explicit and it is now a
definite matter of the ball being in the club’s court to help make it a
reality.
