Missing Leeds United and missed by Leeds United, Kalvin Phillips returns to Elland Road tomorrow and could be in the away dugout for the first time. After leaving the club he loves in the summer, the England international’s return was always going to be an emotional event.
Pep Guardiola’s comments about Phillips’s weight after his return from the World Cup may have cast some doubt on the midfielder’s selection, but he will hope he has done enough to warrant inclusion tomorrow night. It will be a big evening for the Leeds man returning to his roots, which Jesse Marsch says he continues to miss.
“Kalvin was such a good player, but for me, he was a really likeable, heartwarming person to have around the team,” he said. “He got along with everybody here, with the older players, as well as the younger players, with me as well as the academy coaches.
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“He just had a way of when he walked around this building he made everybody feel at home. If you were to ask me what was the hardest part of replacing Kalvin, it was a little bit of that.
“Making sure we still had the feeling of what Leeds United is, what it means to be from Leeds, what the history of the club means, and that human element of what we are. That we still stayed strong with that.
“That is why in the last transfer window we looked at the quality of people and character we brought in here as much as what we thought of from their playing perspective. We’ve replaced that with really good people.
“We still miss Kalvin. He came for one of our matches, Fulham, and you could see he felt the pain of losing that match with us after the match.
“He was still here and he missed being here. Of course he misses being here, he misses the guys, he’s got a lot of great friends, this club is in his heart.
“Watching him from afar with the World Cup, the first thing I asked him was ‘how is your shoulder and are you going to be ready for the World Cup’ and he was like ‘yeah I’ll be ready and the rehab is going well.’ He is just a really good person and a great player, I really enjoyed working with him in the short time I had.”
There will be more than just Phillips hoping he at least makes the bench at Elland Road. His family are likely to be out in force for the game on their own turf.
Marsch expects you could double the standard 30 family members Phillips would normally have at games as a Leeds player for Wednesday night. The head coach expects the emotions of the evening will bring the best out of Phillips, should he play.
“When time moves on, it kind of heals in different ways,” he said. “For Kalvin, it would be different if you talked about the last time he stepped off the pitch here at Elland Road and what that feeling would be like and what it’s like now.
“However, clearly, he will have a strong attachment to the fans, to his family. He would have matches here and there would be 30 family members in the stadium.
“You could multiply that by two for this match. This felt like he belonged, this was his home. I’m sure even when he made the decision to leave that was a big part of the difficulty. Coming back, he will revisit those emotions and it will bring the best out of him. That is the kind of person he is.”
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