It is now almost two years since Kalvin Phillips left Leeds United to join Manchester City.
Phillips made the switch across the Pennines in the hope of competing for some of football’s biggest honours, and it is fair to say he did that last season, as City won the treble.
However, from a personal perspective it was far from easy for Phillips. He started just two Premier League games throughout the whole of last season, and both of those came after City had already been crowned champions.
Upon his return to City after the Qatar World Cup in 2022, Phillips was then also publicly labelled as ‘overweight’ by manager Pep Guardiola, a moment he just does not seem to have recovered from.
The 28-year-old is now on loan at West Ham United whom he joined in January in search of regular game time, which he needed to do to keep himself in the England squad.
However, things have gone from bad to worse for him in East London and his form since joining the Hammers meant he was actually dropped by Gareth Southgate in last month’s internationals.
Richards responds when asked if Phillips regrets leaving Leeds to join Man City
Phillips endured another tough afternoon from the bench for West Ham at Newcastle United on Saturday. He was brought on with around 20 minutes to go at 3-1 up, with the Hammers somehow going onto lose 4-3.
Phillips’s situation was once again under discussion on the latest episode of BBC 5Live’s Monday Night Club, where Micah Richards was asked whether he feels the former Leeds midfielder regrets leaving Elland Road.
Richards believes while it is clear Phillips is currently a shadow of his former self, he won’t regret going to test himself at the highest level.
He said: “I don’t think he regrets it, no, because you want to challenge yourself. I think when he first went there we spoke about it, how was it going to work? Was Man City going to play a double pivot because we know how important Rodri is, but now we have seen Kovacic playing that role with Rodri.
“Looking back at it now, of course, because it looks like he has no confidence whatsoever. We’ve have talked about when Pep said he came back a bit overweight, he wasn’t saying he can’t play football, he was just saying when you go to training you get weighed in the morning and he was over his acceptable weight to play football.
“It didn’t work for him and he’s gone to play at West Ham and you can just see he is playing within himself. He’s not playing with freedom. You know when you are a player and you are overthinking and making mistakes and dwelling on the ball a little bit.
“When he was at Leeds he would get on the ball wherever he would be on the pitch and play a lovely 40 yard ball. It’s almost like now he is thinking too much about what he is doing. He is still a quality player, I would back him at some stage to get back to his best.”
Phillips linked with Leeds return
There is supposedly an interest from Leeds in re-signing Phillips but any deal is going to rest on winning promotion, with the Whites currently sat second in the Championship.
It is difficult to see West Ham looking to sign him permanently in the summer based on how it has gone, which would leave his career very much at a crossroads.
Pundit Andy Townsend believes Leeds is actually the only player for Phillips to be able to re-find that level of form he showed just a few years ago.
He said: “I can only see him returning to Leeds, being the only way for him to possibly find some sort of peace inside and to be comfortable in his surroundings, loved again. That’s what he needs more than anything.
“It wasn’t long ago when he was wearing the white of Leeds, we were saying what a player this kid is. He’s terrific, gets across the ground, can pass, an asset to any team. Completely gone, hollowed out almost.”