Rumours suggest season if Leeds United manage to secure promotion from the Championship to the Premier League then Kalvin Phillips is on their radar with a return to Elland Road a real possibility. It is suggested in The Sun that Leeds are prepared to pay £30 million for their former player, who had a terrible time since leaving Elland Road in the summer of 2022.
The high point of Phillips post-Leeds career was following his £42 million transfer to Manchester City where he won the treble but rarely featured for Pep Guardiola’s side and clearly was not featuring in City’s plans for the future. He then moved to West Ham on a six-month loan deal with the intention of getting sufficient appearances to regain his position in the England squad for Euro 2024.
To say that this has not worked in an understatement, as Phillips, clearly out of form, has made a series of high-profile gaffes for the Hammers including being sent off on only his fourth Premier League appearance.
Most recently, Phillips with his side 3-1 up against Newcastle only to give away a penalty inside 10 minutes of coming on the pitch, and then being missing in action in defence as Newcastle came back to run out 4-3 winners. After the game, Phillips was pictured giving the finger to West Ham fans while getting onto the team bus.
It’s hard now to see that he has a future at the London Stadium, and Hammers fans have turned decisively against him. It is also clear that he is no longer in any sort of contention for an England place this summer.
In this context, and unless City have a full transfer lined up, a return to Elland Road, where he is still loved, would appear a plausible and sensible move by Phillips as he seeks an understanding environment and proper game time to recover his undoubted talent.
Leeds currently sit second in the Championship, one point behind leaders Ipswich Town, and, as we predict, have a good chance of securing automatic promotion.
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