The Manchester City midfielder reflects on what the Santpedor manager told him about his poor form
“For me, he wasn’t overweight, but obviously he saw it differently,” he told BBC Sport.
Kalvin Phillips has come out to clarify one of the great controversies that have affected him the most this season. The Manchester City midfielder, who arrived from Leeds last summer, has barely had any minutes this season and took an important ‘stick’ from Guardiola when he pointed out his overweight.
After the return of the Qatar World Cup, the one from Santpedor pointed out Phillips as one of the footballers who had more ‘passed’ weight had arrived after the break. “He’s not injured, he arrived overweight. He did not arrive in a condition to train and play,” Guardiola said at the end of December last year. At that time, the former Leeds player was training alone and those words fell like a slab on him and his confidence, which was already low due to the lack of minutes.
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A few words that condemned him
Seven months after those words, Kalvin Phillips has confessed how those words from his technician made him feel. “For me, I wasn’t overweight, but obviously the coach saw it in a very different way. I just accepted it and did everything I could to get as fit as possible,” he told BBC Sports.
After Guardiola’s words, the media echo focused on the figure of Phillips, constantly aware of his fitness and whether he was really overweight or not. “It was a little difficult to accept because of how the topic was magnified and the amount of people who started talking about it,” the footballer explained.
Kalvin Phillips, England player
“I was on the bench for the Leeds game right after that and I’ve been fit in every game since,” he added. However, Kalvin Phillips only added a total of 21 participations between all competitions. He only played 12 games in the Premier League.
Phillips wanted to downplay the importance of the matter, clarifying that everything “was a misunderstanding between some members of the ‘staff’ and me.”
