Despite relative quiet in recent days, Kalvin Phillips’ move to Manchester City is edging closer with a medical ‘pencilled in’ for Friday and personal terms unlikely to cause any hiccups. The Premier League champions secured a deal with Leeds United last Friday after agreeing an initial fee of around £45million with £5million add-ons.
The deal will also see Manchester City midfielder Darko Gyabi come the other way for around £5million, with the 18-year-old likely to join the under-21s initially. The lack of noise regarding personal terms during the week that followed suggests that talks are progressing relatively smoothly, with City the desired destination for Phillips.
A family holiday for Phillips has meant progress on the deal has been slow, but with the player expected back in the next 24 hours there is a growing expectation a deal will be completed by the weekend, with suggestions a medical has now been booked for tomorrow.
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News has also emerged suggestion Phillips turned down an opportunity to go to Manchester United out of loyalty to Leeds, stating the only club he would join in the Premier League was Manchester City.
Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth has also suggested as much, stating on the Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast; “Phillips did have interest from a number of other Premier League clubs. But we are told, out of loyalty to Leeds United, City was the only club he was going to join.
"When we hear the words ‘out of loyalty to Leeds United’, maybe there was another certain club that was interested that wouldn’t have pleased the Leeds fans, had he gone there. Another club in Manchester, potentially.”
Manchester United’s interest in Phillips was widely reported at the start of the summer, but such a move was quickly extinguished amid reports Phillips wanted to maintain his relationship with his boyhood club by shunning a move to a bitter old rival.
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