Kalvin Phillips is hoping to emulate Manchester City teammate Jack Grealish as he plots a far better second season at the Etihad than his first.
Phillips joined from Leeds last summer for £42m, but only played 21 times as his debut campaign was plagued with injury and poor form. After the World Cup, Pep Guardiola publicly stated that Phillips was overweight, with the England midfielder taking exception with that assessment this week.
The next season will be a big one for Phillips, who will hope for more game time after a frustrating year that saw him wait until May for his first Premier League start.
So it's no surprise that he's looking to the turnaround from Grealish as an example of how a bad first year can be turned around to play an important role in his second year at City.
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Phillips has been promoting his upcoming documentary which charts his move from Leeds to City, and has told TalkSport how he is looking to Grealish as an example of turning his fortunes around at the Etihad.
“I’ve known Jack for years, I’ve played against him for years and he’s very much a family man as well," he said.
“Loves his family, keeps them very close and he’s obviously had his tough times when he was younger as well. Our career paths have basically taken the same step but just a year apart, and I kind of look at Jack and just think he’s my inspiration in this part.
“He had a tough first year and so did I, second year he came out firing so I’m looking forward to getting pre-season started and hopefully I can turn things around.”
Phillips also admitted that he has learned more than he expected to under Guardiola - echoing sentiments from Grealish a year ago, when he admitted to not expecting the step up to City to be so difficult.
"The tactics are very different," Phillips explained, comparing the approaches from former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa and Guardiola.
"Bielsa was very man-to-man. He was very onto his fitness. A lot of running, a lot of distance covered in games. Pep's teams are always going to have possession, you don't have to do more running, you have to be a lot smarter with the way you move the ball.
"One of the main things is how I've understood the game a lot more over the last 12 months, more than I ever thought possible. I didn't think it was possible to understand the game that much more. The way Pep works, he's obviously a genius he wants perfection. It's a credit to him - he's been at City for quite a while now, so for him to get that treble is amazing for him."
