Pangs of irony may have struck you as you recovered from Leeds United’s dramatic 3-2 win on Friday, and Kalvin Phillips’s frontline return, by then reading about his possible summer exit. United’s England talisman was back in the 20-man unit at Molineux after three months out and though he was never destined to set foot on the pitch, his presence was impossible to ignore from the sidelines.
Head coach Jesse Marsch has made a point of boosting Phillips’s role at the club and, despite being just 26, a part of his new leadership council at Thorp Arch. A three-month absence and inflated role at his boyhood club is not going to stop outsiders being interested in his rather considerable services, though.
At the weekend, The Times published a story about Aston Villa’s interest in a £60m swoop for Phillips and competing with the host of other clubs who might be interested in taking him on. We have come a long way from the summer of 2019 when Villa’s £25m was all the rage for the Championship’s best midfielder, after United missed their first shot for promotion under Marcelo Bielsa.
