Leeds United favourite in 'exile' with no squad number after summer transfer failure — YEP 2/9/25
By Kyle Newbould
It’s been a tough three years for the midfielder since
leaving Leeds United in 2022.
Former Leeds United favourite Kalvin Phillips faces months
without first-team football after failing to secure a summer move away from
Manchester City.
Phillips returned to Manchester from another unsuccessful
loan spell, this time at Ipswich Town, in June and was widely expected to find
a new permanent home this summer. But an Achilles injury eventually required
surgery and reports at the time suggested the midfielder would not be fit until
August.
The former Leeds promotion hero is yet to fully recover and
as the summer transfer window edged towards its conclusion, no credible links
emerged. A return to Elland Road was touted in some reports but never appeared
likely, with his high wages and fitness issues two of several stumbling blocks.
Even on Monday with just hours of the window left and
desperation kicking in across England and Europe, a prospective move never
materialised and Phillips now looks set to remain a Manchester City player. And
while teams from Turkey and Saudi Arabia can still purchase players, the
Manchester Evening News report a move is unlikely.
The report claims Phillips is now facing four months in
‘exile’ with the next window of opportunity for a move coming in January, and
virtually no chance of playing under Pep Guardiola. The former Leeds favourite
has even seen his No.4 shirt taken by new signing Tijjani Reijnders, with no
new allocation provided as of yet.
City do have space in their squad to register Phillips for
possible participation in both the Premier League and Champions League, but
given his fitness issues and fall down the pecking order that is unlikely. Some
reports over the summer suggested Etihad chiefs could rip up his contract to
facilitate a free transfer, but given he has three years left on a
life-changing deal that would not come cheap.
And so Phillips could be left in limbo until at least
January, at which point suitors will likely have concerns regarding his lack of
football. The 29-year-old has endured a torrid three years since leaving Leeds
for City in a £40million-plus deal during the summer of 2022 and has not played
for his parent club since December 2023.
"At City, you can train with the best players every
single day but if you're not playing football every day, it's difficult to stay
fit, it's difficult to stay confident,” Phillips told Sky Sports in a candid
interview last November. "When there are times you're feeling like you
could play and the manager decides to go down a different route, it does hurt a
little bit. The more I wasn't playing, the less confident I got, the less fit I
got.
"I just wanted to get that feeling back. I felt like I
lost some fire in my belly to compete sometimes, but ever since I've been here
[at Ipswich], and even in pre-season when I played a lot of minutes I got that
fire back, and made the decision to come here to play football and get back
doing enjoying what I do.”
