{"id":464521,"date":"2025-10-01T01:30:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T01:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/464521\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T01:30:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T01:30:25","slug":"leeds-united-timed-manchester-city-kalvin-phillips-sale-perfectly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/464521\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United timed Manchester City, Kalvin Phillips sale perfectly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds United<\/a> may have been relegated back in 2023 after failing to replace star players, but the money they received for Kalvin Phillips<\/a> is looking like smart business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Marcelo Bielsa got Leeds promoted back to the Premier League in 2020, and then finished ninth, not much functioned properly without Kalvin Phillips.<\/p>\n

The Thorp Arch graduate was integral to everything Leeds did under the Argentine. Not long after Bielsa departed, Phillips did too.<\/p>\n

Most Read on LeedsAllOver<\/p>\n

Kalvin Phillips struggling again at Manchester City following \u00a345million Leeds United exit<\/p>\n

Phillips\u2019 final act as a Leeds player was to help the side to dramatic final-day survival away at Brentford. From full-time on, the writing was on the wall that both he and Raphinha would secure huge moves away<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Yorkshire Pirlo pursued a dream move away in the summer of 2022, joining Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City for \u00a345million<\/a>. The England international formed part of the summer window that ultimately brought a historic treble to the Etihad.<\/p>\n

Of course, though, Phillips was barely relevant to the Citizens\u2019 domestic and European triumphs. He made four starts across all competitions while amassing a meagre 595 minutes in total.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kalvin Phillips made four starts in 22\/23 for Manchester City, and won three trophies. (REUTERS\/Molly Darlington)<\/p>\n

What followed was two loans across the Premier League. First, he joined West Ham and struggled badly. Then, he moved to Ipswich Town for the 24\/25 campaign, where injuries stopped him from regaining any momentum.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now on the fringes back at Man City with no transfer materialising during the summer window. Phillips has been forced to recover from achilles surgery<\/a>, missing pre-season.<\/p>\n

Leeds United cashed in on \u00a345million Kalvin Phillips at the perfect time<\/p>\n

Losing Phillips even after staying in the Premier League was a gut-wrenching development. However, it looks as though Leeds cashed out at the right time.<\/p>\n

Following that hamstring layoff at the back end of Bielsa\u2019s time at Leeds, Phillips failed to regain the same consistency as an imperious, ground-eating defensive midfielder.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s been included in Man City\u2019s 25-man Premier League squad, Phillips has had his squad number (#4) stripped from him by Tijani Reijnders. He\u2019s now number #44, and is yet to even play a minute under Guardiola in the league this season. He did, however, get a run-out in the closing stages of last week\u2019s EFL Cup win at Huddersfield Town.<\/p>\n

His return to the squad in the cup did spark joyous reaction from his teammates, including Erling Haaland. However, his shock appearance in a City shirt once more does little to raise his stock, but more highlight his plight. <\/p>\n

Phillips penned a six-year deal at the Etihad in the summer of 2022, meaning his deal will for a further three years until 2028. That contract may be the reason why Phillips has been unable to secure a permanent move away too. The book value (PSR) he holds and wages he still commands are surely huge relative to the impact he can have.<\/p>\n

It begs the question of where Phillips could go next to get back to even close to his best. Leeds fans may think a romantic reunion is the only way.<\/p>\n

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United may have been relegated back in 2023 after failing to replace star players, but the money…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,25764,393,4884,45305,1860,2922,142361,886,23345,142362,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-464521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-elland-road","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-kalvin-phillips","13":"tag-leeds","14":"tag-leeds-united","15":"tag-lufc","16":"tag-manchester-city","17":"tag-marcelo-bielsa","18":"tag-the-whites","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115296326398271471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}