Kieran McKenna has conceded that Kalvin Phillips’ loan spell at Ipswich Town has been ‘frustrating’ for both parties.
The England midfielder joined the Tractor Boys for the season from Manchester City in the hope that he could gain more regular match action having struggled to nail down a place with his parent club.
However, injuries have limited Phillips to just 19 Premier League appearances for Ipswich, while he has only completed 90 minutes on six occasions.
Kalvin Phillips has been on loan from Manchester City this season. Picture: Barry Goodwin
“He arrived having not played much football for the couple of seasons before. If he had, he probably wouldn’t have been at Ipswich this season,” said McKenna, who confirmed that Phillips will continue to be absent for Sunday’s trip to Leicester City due to an ongoing Achilles complaint.
“He’s been a good person in the group, he had a fairly stable run of games at the start of the season while he was still working to get back to his best form.
“I feel like we had a period at Christmas and just after where actually he was playing really well and really getting to a good level where he was really, really helping the team and probably the Tottenham game probably typified that because for the first 60 minutes of that game he was outstanding, definitely one of the best players on the pitch and it felt like training and matchdays he was getting to a good, consistent level.
“And probably since then, he got a big gash on his foot from that game, required a lot of stitches and time off his feet and since he came back, we managed to get him in the squad against Bournemouth and Wolves but probably hasn’t been fully fit or had a really good training base behind him and from there he’s had a little problem with his Achilles.
“In many ways I think frustrating for him and for us that we haven’t been able to get him to his best as quickly as we could and utilise a really fully fit and confident Kalvin for more of the season because he would have been an addition to us.”
Despite the loan having not panned out how anyone had hope, McKenna was also asked about the possibility of the switch becoming permanent.
“It’s not something we’ve spoken about or looked at too much in that position yet, to be honest,” he replied.
“I think everyone’s focus, certainly mine in and around the training group, has been around the games remaining and that’s where everything is.”