‘Pep wasn’t happy’ – Man City player responds to direct Guardiola jibe as European giants eye transfer
England international Kalvin Phillips has responded after Man City boss Pep Guardiola said after the conclusion of the World Cup that he was “overweight”.
The midfielder joined Man City in a deal potentially worth £45m from Leeds United last summer.
He endured a nightmare debut season at the Etihad for the treble-winners as he was limited to just two starts in the Premier League.
After the World Cup, Guardiola publicly hit out at Phillips as he returned “unfit” after representing The Three Lions in Qatar.
The City boss said: “Kalvin Phillips is not fit. He did not arrive in the best condition to train and play.”
His lack of game time last term has fuelled talk over a move away from Man City and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have been linked with him in recent weeks.
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But Phillips is focused on doing well for Man City and he has claimed that he is going to start pre-season early.
“We’ll probably try and do it again. That would be nice. I’m not too sure how well it will go,” Phillips told Big Issue.
“But there are very good lads at Manchester City, they are amazing people. I’m going to go in a week early to get my running in and hopefully come back as fit as possible when the training starts.
“As last season went along, I got more positive in myself. And they know that even if I’m not involved in certain games, I will always be there for the team. I’m a team player. I’m just excited for the pre-season tour and to get the season started.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Phillips admitted that Guardiola “wasn’t too happy” when he was “two or three kilograms heavier” than he was supposed to be.
“A lot of people think when somebody says you’re overweight that it means you’re five or six kilograms overweight,” Phillips told Sky Sports.
“But it was just the fact that I’d gone away to New York and flown back and had the whole day, then was reporting to training at the end of the day.
“I’d had a full day of eating and when I stood on the scales I was two or three kilograms heavier, so Pep wasn’t too happy which is perfectly understandable because you’re more likely to get injured, and especially with my track record that season of being injured he wasn’t too happy about it, which I totally agree with. So it’s a lesson learned and it won’t happen again.”
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