Leeds are interested in bringing Kalvin Phillips back to Elland Road.
The Mirror believe Leeds have asked Manchester City about Phillips as the England international aims to leave the Etihad Stadium, having failed to play a single minute of Premier League football so far this season.
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While some might presume Kalvin Phillips would jump at the chance to return to Leeds, comments he made in October 2024 suggest he may prefer less of a headline move.
Kalvin Phillips might prefer a move carrying “less stress” after Manchester City nightmare
After leaving Manchester City to join Ipswich on loan back in August 2024, the Leeds academy graduate spoke about his desire to play outside of the spotlight – having felt a lot of pressure during his spell on loan at West Ham at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
At the time, Phillips said: “The main reason I came to Ipswich was to get back playing football… [To] kind of play football, not stress free, but with less stress and less eyes on me, maybe. When I went to West Ham, I felt like there was quite a lot of eyes on me.”
A romantic return to Elland Road would not exactly be a low-key move for the man born in Leeds, given his status as an academy hero who helped secure promotion in 2020.
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Furthermore, the Mirror add that Phillips is ready to turn his back on English football and take on a new challenge overseas, believing he needs a fresh start abroad after steadily declining at Manchester City.
That nugget of information, along with his comments in 2024 after joining Ipswich, make us highly doubtful over whether the 29-year-old would even want to return to Leeds to compete in a stressful relegation battle.
Leeds United should not have enquired about Kalvin Phillips anyway
It was somewhat puzzling to hear that Leeds had even asked about the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ anyway.
Daniel Farke already has plenty of central midfielders, with Ao Tanaka currently unable to get himself into the starting XI despite his obvious ability.
Not only that, but money is tight for Leeds in terms of PSR – as Robbie Evans made clear – so it would be a poor use of funds to take Phillips on loan, especially seeing as the Mirror state he earns £250,000 every week.
Robbie Evans on Leeds United’s PSR position:
“This summer, we spent everything we could. Unequivocally, we are maxing PSR out this season. If we had gone on to other targets [on deadline day], the consequences would have been seen in the current roster. More key players from last season would have had to go.”
Hopefully, this transfer story ends here – despite the obvious connection between Phillips and Leeds.
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