Kalvin Phillips has opened up about how difficult things were for him at Manchester City and what he hopes to gain from his time at West Ham.
No matter how good a player is elsewhere, there is always a risk when taking the step up to the most elite clubs in the world that they will not find the game time they were hoping for. Kalvin Phillips had the world at his feet before he joined Manchester City from Leeds. He was the star player for his boyhood club, he played a key role for England and was one of the most exciting midfielders in Europe.
Unfortunately, his move to Manchester did not go how he wanted in the slightest and the midfielder opened up about what really went on in a recent interview.
“After the World Cup was probably the toughest [period I had at City],” Phillips told The Guardian, “when Pep came out and said I was overweight. He was right to do so but there are different ways to go about it. I did not disagree with him but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. And my family were not happy about it, either. Especially my mum.”
He went on to explain about a miscommunication that happened between him and Pep Guardiola in which the player believed he had some sort of a rest after the World Cup, but the manager expected something different. When asked if they ever had the chance to talk things over Phillips said “No, I just took it on the chin. Me being the right professional, I probably should have gone in the day after the tournament finished but it’s one of those things that you live and learn.”
Throughout the interview West Ham No.11 is brittany honest, saying that it got to the point where he could “not be bothered … just the same thing, go in, train, go home and not have anything to be excited for. To be honest, I probably lost that fire within me over the past 18 months,”
Understandably, there were a lot of things that had to be considered when it came to choosing where he would go out on loan and it seems like everything was pointing him towards a move to East London.. “When West Ham came in, I thought it was the right place to go.”
“It was just the size of the club and the manager [David Moyes] influenced me a lot. He told me he’d wanted me for the last few transfer windows. I felt like if I wasn’t going to play at City, I want to go to a club where I’m wanted. Not that City didn’t want me but I wanted to go somewhere where the manager was really keen and where he really wanted me.”
“I spoke as well to Declan [Rice, his England teammate and the former West Ham captain] and he said it’s a massive family club. That’s what I’m all about. I want to feel like I’m at home wherever I go.”
It is going to take a little while for him to settle in, but if we give him that unconditional love that a family should, we could get the best out of the Yorkshire Pirlo – he just needs confidence.