It’s been a tough three years for the midfielder since leaving Leeds United in 2022.
Former Leeds United favourite Kalvin Phillips faces months without first-team football after failing to secure a summer move away from Manchester City.
Phillips returned to Manchester from another unsuccessful loan spell, this time at Ipswich Town, in June and was widely expected to find a new permanent home this summer. But an Achilles injury eventually required surgery and reports at the time suggested the midfielder would not be fit until August.
The former Leeds promotion hero is yet to fully recover and as the summer transfer window edged towards its conclusion, no credible links emerged. A return to Elland Road was touted in some reports but never appeared likely, with his high wages and fitness issues two of several stumbling blocks.
Even on Monday with just hours of the window left and desperation kicking in across England and Europe, a prospective move never materialised and Phillips now looks set to remain a Manchester City player. And while teams from Turkey and Saudi Arabia can still purchase players, the Manchester Evening News report a move is unlikely.
The report claims Phillips is now facing four months in ‘exile’ with the next window of opportunity for a move coming in January, and virtually no chance of playing under Pep Guardiola. The former Leeds favourite has even seen his No.4 shirt taken by new signing Tijjani Reijnders, with no new allocation provided as of yet.
City do have space in their squad to register Phillips for possible participation in both the Premier League and Champions League, but given his fitness issues and fall down the pecking order that is unlikely. Some reports over the summer suggested Etihad chiefs could rip up his contract to facilitate a free transfer, but given he has three years left on a life-changing deal that would not come cheap.
Ex-Leeds United man Kalvin Phillips in limbo at Man City
And so Phillips could be left in limbo until at least January, at which point suitors will likely have concerns regarding his lack of football. The 29-year-old has endured a torrid three years since leaving Leeds for City in a £40million-plus deal during the summer of 2022 and has not played for his parent club since December 2023.
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"At City, you can train with the best players every single day but if you're not playing football every day, it's difficult to stay fit, it's difficult to stay confident,” Phillips told Sky Sports in a candid interview last November. "When there are times you're feeling like you could play and the manager decides to go down a different route, it does hurt a little bit. The more I wasn't playing, the less confident I got, the less fit I got.
"I just wanted to get that feeling back. I felt like I lost some fire in my belly to compete sometimes, but ever since I've been here [at Ipswich], and even in pre-season when I played a lot of minutes I got that fire back, and made the decision to come here to play football and get back doing enjoying what I do.”
Ultimately, Phillips’ Ipswich spell went much the same way as his Manchester City career. His 2024/25 campaign was littered with injury and totalling just 14 Premier League starts as Kieran McKenna’s side were relegated.
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