JUST LIKE CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, ALL AT SEA
The life of a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup winner sounds like a straightforward existence. That is even before adding in a European Championship final and 31 England caps but Kalvin Phillips has spent the past two seasons living in footballing purgatory, becoming the bittiest of bit-part players at Manchester City. Thanks to his healthy wage at the Etihad Stadium, Phillips is a difficult player to prise away from Pep Guardiola’s side, despite the fact he has almost zero chance of playing, making a loan the only viable option.
Phillips tried a short-term move in January, taking his fame and fortune to London but his time with West Ham was mildly disastrous as a lack of minutes at City resulted in mistakes. He made eight Premier League appearances but only three starts and returned for pre-season in Manchester wondering where he would wander for his next loan.
Guardiola took Phillips on tour and gave him a go at centre-back due to a lack of options and a love of experimentation but there was never much of a chance he would be in the first-team picture come mid-August. He sat patiently on the bench at Wembley during the Community Shield win over Manchester United, watching teenager Nico O’Reilly start ahead of him. Guardiola said of Phillips prior to the match: “When he is in the middle surrounded by players he struggles a little bit. But he helped us a lot in the last couple of games on tour. I should have seen that before. His confidence is back.” Not a ringing endorsement of a central midfielder.
An inevitable move – to Ipswich – is now on the cards with Ed Sheeran’s morale-boosting acoustic performance at England’s Euros camp obviously serving some sort of belated purpose. No Premier League club is more out of the way, making Ipswich a sensible place to rebuild. There is plenty of talent within Phillips to harness and Kieran McKenna will be confident he is the man to rediscover the potential that saw him move for £45m to City from Leeds. Some will think Phillips has wasted two years of his career at City but his bank balance and medal collection say differently. Now he can go and enjoy his football with the Tractor Boys.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“My God these Spanish people are boring … I didn’t imagine you were going to ask me a question about Kylian again. I don’t have anything to hide. I have always adored Kylian Mbappé and I wish him the best – and that Madrid lose against us” – Luis Enrique spent his press conference to mark the start of PSG’s Ligue 1 campaign against Le Havre talking about … you know who.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Gareth Southgate’s England call-up photo in [Wednesday]’s Memory Lane is intriguing. Yes, wrong flag, but why is Gareth wearing Chris Kirkland’s England youth team goalkeeping jersey. Nice Lev Yashin tribute styling though” – Geoff.
With the sight of Jimmy Greaves and Mike England downing milk from glass bottles in 1967, I was immediately transported back to 1947 and my five-year old self. Awakening from my kindergarten nap I would stumble sleepily into the hall with my classmates to grab ice cold milk in little glass bottles with a cardboard top and a little punch hole for the straw. Why does it taste creamier in the memory? Well it certainly was a thing of the past by 1982 when, on my first morning as a migrant in Australia, I rushed outside to waylay a milkman to enquire “Can I get Gold Top here?” With look of sadness (he was English too) he told me that the locals would have no idea what I meant. “This stuff’s too thin, it’s the heat.” He was right, and years later when the local version of the Milk Marketing Board let the Sheffield Shield fall into the hands of Pura Milk, I was prone to ask my neighbours, “Which is best, The Pura Milk Cup or The Sheffield Shield?” Pause while they reacted with some choice Australian phrases suggesting I had a shortfall in the sandwich/picnic department. I would clarify, “I’m not talking about the cricket, I’m talking about the milk; Sheffield milk, green grass, Jersey cows, inch of cream. Or your stuff; fields of straw, wilting cows and dishwater in cardboard?” Not the way to make friends but even now, at 82, I still yearn to go to the Co-op for my granny to get milk. And “don’t forget the divvy” – Bruce Ellis.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Bruce Ellis. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
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