Man City star ‘attracts interest’ from Newcastle and Everton ahead of proposed January departure

Kalvin Phillips’ time at Manchester City appears to be drawing to a close. It has been a frustrating time for the England international working under Pep Guardiola following his big money move from Leeds United.

Phillips has been with City since 2022, but he has only made 13 league appearances since, struggling to convince Guardiola. The pair have had a prickly relationship up to now, with Guardiola once accusing the midfielder of being out of shape after England duty, something Phillips has admitted was hard to take.

Injury didn’t help last season, either, not to mention Phillips has found himself behind likely the best holding midfielder in the world in Rodri.

Still, even faced with limited opportunities, Phillips decided to stay and fight for his place amid transfer links during the summer. That hasn’t worked out all that well, though, with Phillips likely seeing the writing on the wall over the last two weeks. Even with Rodri suspended, Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovacic have been given the nod ahead of the England international, and a January exit suddenly looks very likely as he looks to secure a spot in the England squad for next summer’s Euros.

According to i News, interest is already ramping up, too, with Everton and Newcastle United among those interested, although Phillips would also find it likely to displace Bruno Guimaraes at the latter. It’s claimed West Ham held strong interest during the summer, while Liverpool and Bayern Munich also showed tentative interest.

Bayern are still looking for a strong midfielder having seen their deal for Joao Palhinha break down on deadline day, and if they can’t sign the Fulham midfielder in January, they may well look elsewhere, perhaps at Phillips. As for City, they are not likely to get all of their £42million investment back, especially given how little they have used Phillips during the short time he has played for the club.

Meanwhile, Guardiola recently spoke about Phillips’ lack of game time, saying: “Marcelo [Bielsa] gave Kalvin the best of Kalvin in his career. I’d love to have done with Kalvin what Marcelo has done to him. We have our own specific way to play and [he] sometimes struggles in a few things, while the previous [Leeds playing style] was perfect [for him].”