‘Sad and useless’ – Kalvin Phillips makes damning Man City statement after transfer
Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips has moved to West Ham in search of more regular football
Kalvin Phillips endured a tough West Ham against Bournemouth
Kalvin Phillips endured a tough West Ham debut against Bournemouth
Kalvin Phillips has spoken of his excitement at joining West Ham after starting to feel “useless” at Manchester City.
Phillips arrived from Leeds in the summer of 2022 but struggled to make an impression in his first season, not helped by a shoulder injury he picked up early on. The England international rejected offers to leave after just 12 months, yet with no more opportunities at the Etihad coming his way he sealed a loan move to West Ham in the January window.
Pep Guardiola could not speak highly enough of how Phillips behaved at City, and apologised for being unable to find a way for him to get into the team. However, the stark reality for Phillips was laid bare during a three-game suspension for Rodri when Phillips started just one game and youngster Rico Lewis was preferred for the big test at Arsenal.
Phillips has had a few teething issues at West Ham in his opening matches against Bournemouth and United, but is hoping that a regular run of games can be enough for him to find his form and earn a place in the England squad for the European Championship this summer. Whatever sadness he has at leaving City has been trumped by the excitement of getting up and running in East London.
“It’s obviously a massive decision for me and my family, but I think it was a decision that I needed to make because I wasn’t getting much game time,” he told the West Ham programme.
“The one thing that I wanted when I left Man City in January was to be back playing and to be enjoying myself playing football as well. When you don’t play football for so long, you kind of feel a little bit useless because you’ve not been doing anything. So, for me, it was just more coming to a good club with good fans and just enjoying my football again.
“I was very sad when I knew that my next step had to be to move on, but I got over that quite quickly and was just more excited than anything to get down here and see the place and see how London is, which is very busy. I was very excited to get going.”
