Kalvin Phillips return to Leeds United to 100 per cent be summer story – Phil Hay
Kalvin Phillips returning to Leeds United will entirely depend on Daniel Farke’s view if the team gets promoted back to the Premier League, says Phil Hay.
The Athletic journalist told The Square Ball on 5 April that the West Ham loanee needs a way out of Manchester City again in the summer, and admitted that if the Whites go up an Elland Road move will “100%” be a story.
But, while ruling it out entirely if Farke can’t take this side back to the top flight, Hay highlighted how the German’s say will be final on any move for the former local hero.
Hay said of the recent controversy which saw the 28-year-old direct a middle finger at Hammers fans (26m): “It tells you he’s at a really low ebb and needs something to change. There’s going to have to be some way of negotiating his way out of City in the summer, whether that’s again on loan or via a permanent and everybody’s going to have to be sensible about the numbers involved.
“Whether he comes back to Leeds – if Leeds don’t go up absolutely not. If they do go up it will depend 100% on how Farke sees his team, what he thinks he needs, because he has dictated everything in terms of transfers… his is the final say, and that would be the same in the summer. I don’t know what on earth his thinking would be on Phillips. The only thing I could say in terms of whether that’s an option, it would be down to him…
“It’s most certainly going to reoccur as a story in the summer… 100% through the summer there will be stories, if Leeds go up, about Kalvin Phillips.”
Leeds United answer after Manchester City man toils at West Ham?
On a rational level it is difficult to see a Phillips move making sense to Leeds United at this stage, so it would perhaps be a surprise to see it happen.
Two years removed from his original departure the club and their former star have moved far enough in different directions that the link isn’t as strong as it was, with multiple managerial changes, a takeover and heavy turnover in the squad at Elland Road since.
With the likes of Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas potentially the latest former teammates of Phillips’ moving on this summer it is a much different team to the one he left.
It would need to be on a hugely-reduced financial basis that he returned from the Etihad if it were to happen, since it would be a risk to assume he could recapture his previous form under anyone other that Marcelo Bielsa.
Leeds United may make as much sense as anywhere from Phillips’ perspective, given his miserable time at the London Stadium but, while it is admittedly in the second tier, Farke has four strong midfield options already.
So there looks to be more factors working against a move than for one at this stage unless City are willing to finance a low-cost gamble by the Whites boss.
In other Leeds United news, a Sky Sports commentator has admitted his genuine hope for the Whites this season.
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