Gary Neville has admitted that Leeds United must make sure Kalvin Phillips is fully 'ready' to return after he was named on the bench for the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The 26-year-old has been out for over three months after suffering a hamstring injury in the 2-2 draw with Brentford back in December.
However, Phillips was back in the Leeds squad and was on the bench for the game at Molineux. Liam Cooper, who has been unavailable for the same amount of time, also returned and it is safe to say the duo could be vital in their pursuit of staying in the Premier League.
Jesse Marsch spoke about how important it is for the England international to be back involved given his significance to the side. He also starred for the Three Lions at Euro 2020 last summer, starting all seven matches.
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Although there would be some temptation to throw Phillips back in, Marsch decided to err on the side of caution and named him as an unused substitute. And former Manchester United defender Neville believes that Leeds must be careful with him and ensure that he is managed in the right way.
He told Sky Sports: "It’ll help them enormously. The record without him in the team is woeful. Leeds are in a real difficult predicament as a team, they’ll have to work hard.
"Is he going to come back and hit the ground running and be in great form? There’s a lot of expectation on him, a lot riding on him, but he will bring them huge confidence I’m sure. Leeds need to make sure he’s ready when he comes back."
