Kalvin Phillips isn’t having the best start to life at Manchester City as he’s been short of playing time and fitness since making the switch from Leeds United. Gabriel Agbonlahor recently criticised Pep Guardiola’s treatment of the 26-year-old and has pondered whether he could be loaned back to Leeds.
Shame to see kalvin Phillips getting 1 minute of playing time. Can’t they loan him back to Leeds for the season?
— Ga11agbon (@ga11agbon) September 14, 2022
Phillips finds himself behind Rodri in the pecking order this season and is only getting the odd cameo appearance for City, so Agbonlahor believes he should return to Elland Road where he was given regular playing time. His World Cup hopes hang in the balance while he’s on the periphery in Manchester too.
Phillips was always going to struggle for playing time upon his arrival at City as Rodri has been a regular in midfield since his 2019-arrival and seldom misses a game under Guardiola, so the former might only get extended opportunities if injury struck.
If the £44.1m midfielder is short of appearances when the January transfer window opens, there could be talks about a loan move for the remainder of the season. It’s far too early to be talking about Phillips’ future, however, as he was always going to struggling to nail down a starting place immediately.
In other news, Man City man warned by Frank McAvennie he could be dropped from World Cup squad