Man City failed to offload flop to Prem strugglers in £7.5m move during summer
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips
Manchester City reportedly asked for a £7.5million loan fee from Everton in the summer in order to let them have struggling midfielder Kalvin Phillips.
It seems the English midfielder’s mark on City will be almost imperceivable by the time he’s gone. The only thing that is likely to be remembered is the £42million they paid Leeds for him in last summer.
Last season, Phillips played less than 600 minutes for his new side, with two of his four starts coming when the Premier League title was wrapped up.
He’s been met with a similar fate this season. Indeed, the midfielder has managed 89 Premier League minutes, and 126 minutes in the Champions League.
True to form, his one start so far this term was in the final group game in the European competition, when it was already confirmed City were through; Phillips did score his first goal in that game.
Pep Guardiola recently revealed he “struggles to see” the midfielder in his side.
There is interest in him, so he won’t have to endure sitting on the bench at City forever.
TEAMtalk recently revealed that Newcastle have opened talks over a loan move starting in January.
City failed to push Phillips out in summer
Phillips could have been allowed to go on loan in the summer, when Everton came knocking.
According to Football Insider, the Toffees enquired about taking the midfielder on loan, but City demanded they pay his wages in full, along with a £7.5million loan fee.
With the demands too high for Sean Dyche’s side, they pulled out.
It’s suggested Phillips was not keen on the idea of a move to Goodison Park anyway.
City demands a sign of things to come
While TEAMtalk sources have not suggested City have demanded that of Newcastle in their loan talks, that they wanted a significant sum from Everton for the loan may be a sign of things to come.
Indeed, if Citizens were demanding of that much from a struggling side, given the Magpies and Tottenham are among the interested clubs, they’ll likely ask for a lot of them, too, knowing they could each afford it.
It remains to be seen whether or not anybody will pay that much just for a loan.
Midfield problems at both of those sides could mean they’re forced into succumbing to City’s demands.
Phillips will be hopeful somebody takes the plunge, as there’s not much to suggest his tough time won’t continue for the remainder of the season if he stays put at the Etihad.
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