An explanation for why Manchester City have not announced the signing of Kalvin Phillips has been provided.
Kalvin Phillips, now 26, has been a mainstay in Leeds’ midfield for many years now.
The Englishman is a Leeds native and came up through the club’s youth ranks. Since breaking into the first-team, Phillips has notched an impressive 234 appearances for The Whites, scoring 14 and assisting 13 in the process.
It is not his goal contributions, though, which have made Phillips such a key cog under both Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch.
This has instead been his defensive prowess and relentless work ethic. Such traits earned the midfielder a regular starting spot in Gareth Southgate’s England setup over the last year+.
Also, with Leeds having only just survived relegation in 2021/22, it was expected that a player of Phillips’ quality will make the step up to a top-six side in the near future.
And that did look likely to happen last week when it was reported by David Ornstein that Manchester City had reached an agreed with Leeds to sign Phillips for an initial £42m plus £3m in add-ons:
? EXCL: Man City have reached agreement with Leeds to sign midfielder Kalvin Phillips. £42m + £3m — with Darko Gyabi joining #LUFC separately for £5m fixed. Clubs now in process of finalising deal for 26yo England int’l to join #MCFC @TheAthleticUK #LUFC https://t.co/i25RND4Ad5
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) June 24, 2022
However, since that news was reported, there has been little more news regarding Phillips’ move to the Etihad.
The reason for this, though, has now been provided and there is a fairly simply explanation. Phillips is still on holiday, and won’t be returning until the 30th of June. And with a medical yet to take place, a deal cannot be finalised until the midfielder returns from his holiday to undergo said medical.
