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.

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