Leeds United need 49ers investment in time to stop Kalvin Phillips Man City exit
The proposed takeover of Leeds United by the San Francisco 49ers may hold the key to keeping Kalvin Phillips at the club.
According to transfer specialist Dean Jones, the difficulty in paying the England international what he is worth could be standing in the way of a new contract at the club.
Manchester City are interested in bringing him in to replace Fernandinho and they would have no such problems financially, so the Whites currently face losing two star men this summer, as Jones believes the chances of Raphinha not completing a move to Barcelona are “slim to none”.
Jones told Oddschanger of whether Phillips goes this summer, in a clip posted on their Twitter page: “This isn’t straight forward. Can they pay him the type of money that he’s going to command at this stage?
“Let’s be honest. I think ideally Kalvin Phillips would sign a new contract to stay at Leeds, loves the club, loves how it’s helped him to get here.
“Can they pay him £120,000-a-week? I’m not sure, and I think that that’s probably the stumbling block.
“I think they’ve got a possibility to keep him but they’re really going to have to push the boat out here.
“It would be a massive loss to them and it would be difficult to replace him in that side.
“It’s tricky. We’re not that far away from big changes at Leeds. There’s investment coming from the 49ers group possibly towards the back end of this year.
“There’s going to be a lot of changes going on and that’ll be part of these talks too.”
Timing
Whether they could pay Raphinha big money or not is probably a moot point as he looks like he personally wants to move to the Camp Nou.
But the wages they have apparently already agreed with him are unlikely to have suffered from the same kind of miserliness that the amount they appear to be willing to offer United to sign him has.
Boyhood Whites fan Phillips has a personal affinity with Elland Road so in theory he should be easier to keep, but if contract talks have been in the offing since before Christmas and we have still reached the summer with nothing in place it isn’t a massively positive sign.
Any Premier League club should really be able to afford sizeable wages considering the money that comes with being part of the top flight, but if Jones is right that it is an issue of spending power then it will be a crushing blow to see the local hero leave such a short time before a takeover.
Kieran Maguire recently confirmed that Paraag Marathe was “completely committed” to the investment in Leeds United whether the club were relegated or not (Times), but an approach from the Etihad is apparently imminent so it may not arrive in time.
While it is a positive for fans that the spending power should be boosted in the near future, if it comes too late to keep Phillips it will be a major disappointment.
Considering his importance to the club it would surely make sense to gain assurances of some sort from the 49ers if possible in order to avoid that fate, because at the moment there appears to be a risk of money coming too late to salvage this situation.
In other Leeds United news, the club are set to revisit another deal they failed to complete previously after already tying up the Brenden Aaronson deal.