It’s simply NOT right that Kalvin could hammer the winner against Liverpool.. and then not play v City
THERE is a popular school of thought that believes Kalvin Phillips’ loan move to West Ham United is good for all parties involved.
And that school of thought is wrong.
The move is good for Phillips, good for Manchester City, good for West Ham, good for Gareth Southgate and England... and bad for the integrity of the Premier League.
The system that allows clubs to lend each other players remains a blight on a great competition. Simple as that.
Elite team sport should be about our players versus your players.
Simple as that.
It should not be about our players versus yours and someone else’s players. Simple as that. Certainly not someone who is supposed to be a rival, a competitor.
Considering West Ham will now be paying Phillips’ considerable wages, you have to assume David Moyes envisages the England midfielder as a key part of his team.
And there is a good chance Phillips will play a central role in a big Premier League game against Liverpool at the London Stadium in late April.
It might even be a decisive role, you never know. There is also a good chance Jurgen Klopp’s team will, at that stage, be involved in a head-to-head title battle with Manchester City.
And who do City entertain on the last day of the Premier League season? West Ham.
And who will not be able to play in that match?
Kalvin Phillips.
How can that be right?
How can it be right that Moyes will be able to field a line-up that might defeat
Liverpool, but then is forbidden from fielding the same line-up against City?
It cannot be.
But even if the Premier League scrapped the rule that says a loan signing cannot play against his permanent employer, the system still stinks.
Even if West Ham take up an option to buy Phillips – and my guess is that won’t happen
– the system still stinks.
Obviously, West
Ham are no threat to
Pep Guardiola’s title challenge, but the fact City feel empowered to lend the Hammers an established England player – when only eight points ahead of them in the table – is an unnecessarily patronising reminder of their place in the pecking order.
In the Premier League private members’ club, everyone knows their place.
If you look after the big boys, if you vote the right way in those London meetings, they might lend you a £45million player.
No wonder former chief executive Richard Scudamore was a rare voice against loans between Premier League clubs.
It will be lovely to see Phillips – one of football’s nice guys – seriously involved in club football again and Southgate will be pleased one of his favourite players seems certain to get plenty of game time ahead of Euro 2024.
Phillips might help West Ham again secure European qualification while City will save on salary and, eventually, may even recoup a fair chunk of their initial outlay.
Everyone is a winner then.
Not quite. The integrity of the Premier League is a loser.