‘I was devastated’: Phillips gutted when Leeds sold eye-opening ace who ‘took the team by storm’
Kalvin Philips has revealed that he was “devastated” when Leeds United sold Ronaldo Vieira to Sampdoria in 2018.
Vieira, 21, left Elland Road for an initial fee worth £7.7million to help fund the transformation that took place when Marcelo Bielsa arrived in charge of the club.
However the midfielder was one of the hottest prospects in West Yorkshire at the time and his exit was met with a lot of confusion from fans, who rated the player highly.
Vieira’s exit seems fully justified now though with Leeds performing brilliantly under Bielsa and Phillips making the holding midfield role his own.
That hasn’t stopped the 24-year-old Whites ace from missing his former team-mate though.
“I was devastated, to be fair,” Phillips said to Forza Football Academy on Instagram, as quoted by LeedsLive.
“I was there when Ronaldo was coming up through the [under-]18s and the [under-]23s.
“He took the team by storm. For such a young kid to be able to play as well as he did, when he was here he was massive for us.
“He opened your eyes and you thought ‘we’ve got a very good, young player’.
“I was gutted when he left, but I still keep in touch with him. We talk on a day-to-day basis.”
Phillips has blossomed from an Elland Road fringe player in the Championship to a future England international since Bielsa’s arrival and Vieira’s exit might have helped that happen.
Vieira plays in the same position as Phillips and Bielsa might have had the choice to keep one of the two midfielders.
Both are good players but it is fair to say that Phillips has come on a lot more since 2018 than Vieira has but the Sampdoria midfielder is still only 21-years-old.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has issued a major Championship update.