Ever since leaving Leeds United, Kalvin Phillips has endured a miserable time in the Premier League since joining Manchester City in 2022. Despite being part of the treble winning squad in 2023, the midfielder has mainly been out of favour under manager Pep Guardiola.
Phillips made just one appearance for the Cityzens this season, playing in the Carabao Cup against Huddersfield Town. He joined Sheffield United in January on a straight loan deal that included no obligation or option to buy.
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Bielsa Connection Between Duo Lives On
The days of thriving under Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road are a distant memory, as is the relationship between Phillips and United faithfuls. There have been continuous links over a reunion between Phillips and Leeds, but nothing ever came to fruition.
From that Bielsa team in West Yorkshire, both Phillips and Patrick Bamford are now no longer at the club. Instead, the duo are now at Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United in the Championship. Recently, the Yorkshireman spoke to Sky Sports about his recent career move, inspired by a conversation with his former teammate.
A text message from Bamford persuaded Phillips to swap the Premier League for the Championship, having initially dismissed the idea.
He said: “It was early December. Obviously I was thinking of going out on loan and Pat (Bamford) text me and said Chris has asked me to message to see what you think about coming here for a few games.
“At first I was a bit like ‘I don’t know’, but the more I thought about it, I thought ‘why not?’. It’s not going to harm me in any way, it’s not going to do anything to my confidence, I want to play as many games as possible. If I’d gone to a Premier League team it would have taken me a bit longer to get into the team and they have less games and I just want to play as many games as possible.”
Moving On From Disastrous Manchester City Spell
Speaking on his lack of game-time under Guardiola, he added: “I just feel like staying idle, like, so many players have done it where they’ve stayed at the club for so long and not played and their career has fizzled out. I don’t want that to happen.”
The Blades face rivals Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, and the former Leeds duo are expected to feature. Phillips has played two games for United already, which is more than he featured for Man City in the first half of this season. He will be hoping to re-ignite his career, starting with a relegation battle as Chris Wilder helps steer the club away from the relegation zone.
Despite things souring as a result of his move to City, Phillips will always be remembered as the frontman during the golden spell under Bielsa. Bamford is looked more favourably amongst the Leeds faithfuls, having eventually left the club as a player who manager Daniel Farke deemed as surplus in the end.
Despite joining Yorkshire rivals, the goodwill to see former players like this duo remains.
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