It has been a long time coming but Kalvin Phillips has finally left Manchester City and completed a loan move to West Ham – prompting reaction from some of his former Leeds United teammates.
The 28-year-old has struggled ever since completing a move to Manchester City from Leeds in the summer of 2022. Playing 234 times for us, he chose to join the Premier League champions for £45m.
But injury, including a frustrating shoulder injury that almost ruled him out of the World Cup, has limited Phillips to just six starts in 18 months for City – and 31 games in league and cup. Nowhere near enough.
It has seen him choose to leave and after links with Tottenham, Newcastle, Juventus and even Barcelona – he’s gone to West Ham. He claimed he would have chosen West Ham, had City not got him in 2022.
Phillips, who will now be focusing on making an impact with West Ham in both the League and Europe, took to Instagram on Friday afternoon after it was confirmed he had joined on loan until the summer.
Leeds players react as Kalvin Phillips joins West Ham on loan
It is a brilliant move for Phillips. He will need games to show Gareth Southgate why he deserves to play an important role for England at the Euros in the summer. That is why East London is perfect for him.
Not only does he have the second half of the Premier League campaign to do that, but Phillips also has the chance to really have a crack at Europe with Moyes’ West Ham – who remain in the Europa League.
Plenty responded to his Instagram post including Leeds duo Junior Firpo and Joe Gelhardt – while Luke Ayling also had his say in the comments. Jack Grealish was one of a huge number of others to post.
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