‘Never’ - Pep Guardiola rejects Kalvin Phillips claim as Man City struggles continue at West Ham

Pep Guardiola has refuted Kalvin Phillips’ claims that he never addressed the ‘overweight’ comments he made about the player in December 2022.

The Manchester City manager infamously said Phillips was not fit to be selected for a Carabao Cup game after returning back from the World Cup. “He’s not injured. He arrived overweight,” said Guardiola after the 3-2 win over Liverpool. “I don’t know [why]. He didn’t arrive in the condition to do training sessions and to play.”

It was a comment that understandably impacted Phillips’ fragile confidence and he is now repeatedly mocked for his weight by opposition fans. The 28-year-old spoke about the incident recently and revealed after joining West Ham United on loan that it was the ‘toughest moment’ of his disastrous year and a half at the Etihad.

“He was right to do so but there are different ways to go about it,” the England international said. “Pep was frustrated I didn’t come back into training early but it was just a miscommunication.”

“Pep wanted me to come in the day after we finished the tournament and be involved in friendlies and stuff. I never got that information because if he asked me to be there, I would have.

“He was very frustrated with me coming back 1.5kg over my target weight. It took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. My family were not happy about it, either, especially Mum.”

Phillips went on to reveal he never addressed the situation with Guardiola and he ‘just took it on the chin’.

But that’s a version of events Guardiola clearly doesn’t agree with and the City boss was asked about the incident on Monday ahead of the Premier League game against Brentford. “Yeah, I’m sorry. Once in eight years is not bad. But I’m so sorry. I apologise to him,” he replied.

When it was subsequently suggested that Guardiola and Phillips had not discussed the matter, the Catalan said: “Oh no I spoke about that. Yeah, before our [next] game I spoke to him. I never before said something here [without] speaking with the players in that case.”

While Phillips may have the opportunity to respond to Guardiola at some stage, in the meantime he will be more concerned about his dreadful start to life at West Ham. The ex-Leeds United man has played four games and lost three, one of which was a 6-0 thumping by Arsenal.

But it’s Phillips’ individual performances that are alarming and the on-loan City man has given away two goals and been sent off in a little over 200 minutes of football for the Hammers.