We all knew this day was coming. Kalvin Phillips is too good to stay at a club like Leeds forever. No disrespect to Leeds, but his stock has been rising since his remarkable performances in Euro 2020. A move to a bigger club was inevitable.
£42 million plus add-ons is what City paid for the 26-year-old English midfielder. Which in this day and age, seems like a very good piece of business.
After Fernandinho’s departure, the only real top quality defensive minded midfielder Manchester City have on their books is Rodri.
Rodri is remarkably talented and does pop up with a few goals every now and again. At only 23, he’s a good three years younger than Phillips. Although Phillips season was marred by injury. Rodri has had a far better 21/22 season than Phillips. Rodri found the goal seven times and managed two assists in 33 league games this season. Whereas Phillips struggled to find the net, let alone get a shot-off most games, and only managed one assist in 18 league games.
Yes, the way Leeds and Man City play are vastly different, and Phillips was trusted with a much more defensive role. Which is why these stats aren’t a good reflection of his true ability. Something that we found very surprising though was the heat map comparison of the two midfielders.
Once again, the playing styles are different. City dominate the ball in almost every game whereas Leeds may find themselves sitting back and defending more often than not.
This doesn’t take away from the fact that Rodri was absolutely everywhere this season. He’s not just a defensive midfielder.
Phillips’s heat map is very defensive. He rarely ventured forward, he only averaged 0.8 shots per game.
Our question is, where does Phillips fit in here? We’re sure many people were thinking that he could slot in and easily replace Rodri like for like. But Rodri seems like a more than competent player at that position.
The other midfielders are Kevin de Bruyne, arguably the best player in the League right now and İlkay Gündoğan who’s been entrusted with the captain’s armband on numerous occasions. Even Bernardo Silva, who may leave this summer would be above Phillips in the pecking order due to his attacking talent. It’s hard to see Phillips replacing either of them.
It saddens us to say, but Phillips may have just signed a 6-year contract to warm the bench. Albeit for the best team in the league. He’ll win trophies, but Phillips strikes us as the type of player that will want to play week-in, week-out. Perhaps a move to Tottenham, or Arsenal would have been better. Somewhere where he wouldn’t be fighting for a starting spot. Phillips is hitting that point in his career where he’s starting to really grow as a player. Hopefully that isn’t stunted by limited game time.
As fans of football, we obviously hope that Phillips finds his feet with the champions and turns into a world class player under Pep Guardiola, but at the moment, it doesn’t look likely considering how good Rodri’s been recently.
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