Phillips is city’s key to europe
EXCLUSIVE By ross heppenstall KALVIN PHILLIPS has been tipped to lead a Manchester City revolution next season – by the man who set him on the road to stardom.
Ian Thackray nurtured the England midfielder at Leeds amateur club Wortley Juniors for more than six years before Phillips signed at Elland Road as a 14-year-old.
Thackray, a Leeds season-ticket holder who grew close to Phillips and his tight-knit family, certainly does not begrudge the boyhood Whites fan his big-money move across the Pennines.
A £45million switch is set to be completed and Thackray reckons 26-year-old Phillips will add a new dimension to Pep Guardiola’s side – possibly alongside Rodri.
Thackray said: “Manchester City are all about pass-and-move, but Kalvin’s game is based on winning the ball and spraying it about.
“With Erling Haaland also coming in, I’ve got this sneaky feeling that Guardiola may change the way that City play. If you watch a lot of Haaland’s goals, he runs into space and somebody finds him, so that could well be Kalvin’s role.
“I think Guardiola has decided that the squad he’s got can’t win the Champions League. In the latter stages of that competition, he wants to make sure that when he plays away from home, he gets a result.
“What better way to do it than sticking Rodri and Kalvin in front of his back four?
“I think Guardiola has seen what Kalvin has done for England alongside Declan Rice. He will have seen how well that has worked with a centre forward like Harry Kane.”
With Leeds having only narrowly avoided relegation last season, Phillips (right) is keen to join City and win trophies.
Thackray added: “If he wants trophies, there are only two places to go at the moment – Liverpool or Manchester City.
“Alan Smith blotted his copybook by going to Manchester United when we got relegated in 2004.
“If Kalvin was going to United, he might as well stay for good – he wouldn’t be allowed back over the border!
“He will be remembered as the man who helped Leeds back to the Premier League.
His legacy is assured.”