Phillips’ disastrous Hammers loan spell ended by injury

KALVIN PHILLIPS has played the final game of his disastrous West Ham loan spell, after seeing his season ended by a calf injury.

Phillips missed last weekend’s 5-0 defeat at Chelsea with the problem and has failed to recover in time to face Luton in tomorrow’s final home game of the campaign, which will also be David Moyes’s last at London Stadium.

Even if returning to fitness, Phillips would be ineligible to face parent club Manchester City on next weekend’s final day, and he is expected to return to the Etihad at the start of next week to continue his rehabilitation ahead of a summer in which his future is uncertain. Both clubs were initially open to including an option-to-buy as part of the loan switch, but failed to agree the terms of the deal.

It means the midfielder (right) will leave West Ham having made just three starts across competitions since arriving in January.

The 28-year-old moved to West Ham in search of the regular playing time that, it was hoped, would cement his place in the England squad ahead of this summer’s European Championship. Instead, the former Leeds man has played himself out of Gareth Southgate’s plans during a torrid fourmonth stint in east London.

Phillips made costly errors leading to goals in both his debut draw against Bournemouth and the subsequent defeat by Manchester United in February, before being sent off in the loss at Nottingham Forest later the same month.

In March, he came off the bench with the Hammers 3-1 up at Newcastle, only to concede the penalty that inspired a dramatic late comeback for the hosts to win 4-3 in a result that dealt a major blow to West Ham’s European hopes. After that game, Phillips was filmed raising his middle finger at a fan who had called him “useless” outside St James’ Park. The failure of Phillips’s loan has proved costly for Moyes, who pushed hard for his signing, having had made several previous attempts to bring in the Englishman over the previous two years.