I was feeling very SAD and down…” The 28-year-old reveals that he began to experience feelings of ‘uselessness’ while playing for Manchester City.
Phillips has moved on loan to West Ham United for the rest of the season. He had a rough 18 months at Manchester City after moving there from Leeds United.
The 28-year-old hardly appeared in City’s treble triumph but decided to stay and fight for his place in the summer when an even earlier departure was on the cards.
Phillips’ minutes haven’t gone up, though, and he couldn’t even play when Rodri was out.
Kalvin Phillips talks his Manchester City departure
Phillips has said that he had to leave in order to get back into football. “It’s a big decision for me and my family, but I think it was one I had to make because I wasn’t getting much game time,” he told his new club’s Official Programme before their game against Arsenal over the weekend.
“When I left Man City in January, the only thing I wanted was to play football again and have fun doing it.” It’s easy to feel like you’re not doing anything when you haven’t played football for a long time.
“So, for me, it was just going to a good club with good fans and having fun with football again.”
“I was really sad when I realised I had to move on, but I quickly got over it. I was more excited than anything to get down here and see the place and London, which is very busy.” I was very excited to get going.”
At last, the right choice
At the time, it seemed like a risky choice, but it turned out to be a waste of time. Phillips could have quit City in the summer and played the whole season instead of trying to get back into shape now that the season is in full swing.
But before the transfer window opened, he made it clear that he wanted to stay at City and fight for his spot in the team, ending any rumours of leaving.
Professional footballers have to back themselves and, in truth, leaving a club that has just won the treble must be hard.
But it was already very clear that Pep Guardiola didn’t think Phillips was good enough. It became even clearer when, when Rodri was banned, Guardiola put anyone else he could find in the holding position instead of Phillips.
