Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips will be subject to interest from many clubs having impressed in his debut Premier League season for the Elland Road side as well as also being one of the stars of Euro 2020, putting in a series of strong performances in for England against the likes of Croatia and Germany.
Manchester City are the bookmaker’s favourites to sign the 25-year-old midfielder.
Phillips is a player that is very much built in the mould of a City player, as he is comfortable on the ball as a deep-lying playmaker and is a powerful runner as he showed when he set up Raheem Sterling’s winner against Croatia. With the likes of Fernandinho also in the autumn of his career at 36-years-old, the England international could be the ideal replacement for the former Shakhtar Donetsk man.
This would be a good move for the Leeds born midfielder, as it would enhance his game even more due to playing with a world-class squad of players at the Etihad Stadium, as we have seen when the 25-year-old has played for England.
Chelsea have also been linked with the Leeds man, as the champions of Europe are looking to bolster their midfield with numbers and quality.
Phillips plays a similar role to the likes of Jorginho, as the Italian tends to dictate the tempo of play from a deep position on the pitch and sits in front of the back five which Thomas Tuchel’s men often deploy, however, Phillips arguably has a better passing range than the former Napoli man.
Tuchel has been known for liking to play high energy football, which Phillips already does at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa which shows by his statistics, as he averages 2.6 tackles, 1.6 interceptions, 1.7 clearances and 1.2 dribbles per game.
Chelsea are priced at 12/1 to sign Phillips from Leeds in this summer transfer window.
Leeds’ bitter rivals Manchester United are also rumoured to be contemplating a move for Phillips.
United are in need of a tenacious defensive midfielder who fits the bill, as they have often been playing Fred and Scott McTominay as a deep-lying midfield duo to try and compensate for a lack of defensive midfield options at Old Trafford, as Nemanja Matic is their only natural player in this role, but, is in the latter stages of his career at the age of 32-years-old.
Former Chelsea man, Matic only played 1,098 Premier League minutes across 20 appearances, showing that the Red Devils aren’t keen on using the Serbian across a whole season and will need to boost their options if they are to fight for the title for the first time since 2013.
The final team on this list is another one of Leeds’ rivals in Liverpool, as Jurgen Klopp is also looking to sign up some central midfielders following the departure of Gini Wijnaldum and the fact that James Milner is now 35-years-old.
Phillips would suit Liverpool’s system perfectly, as he is very energetic as mentioned above and is defensively sound, he also has an exceptional passing range and would be a perfect fit as he could deliver direct passes over the top of defences to the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, something which Virgil Van Dijk is known for.