Leeds fans have brutally mocked Kalvin Phillips with a ruthless chant after Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola accused him of being “overweight”.
Phillips has played just one Premier League game for City since completing a £46million move from the Whites in the summer. He suffered a shoulder injury soon after his arrival which has kept him in the treatment room at the Etihad Stadium.
The midfielder was still called up to the England squad for the World Cup, though he played just 40 minutes as the Three Lions reached the quarter-finals. He returned to City after the tournament, but was not included in the squad which defeated Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.
In explaining his decision to leave out Phillips, Guardiola delivered an extraordinary blast of his summer signing. Rather than omitting him due to injury, the City boss accused him of returning to Manchester overweight.
“He’s not injured. He arrived overweight. I don’t know [why]. He didn’t arrive in the condition to do training sessions and to play. That’s why he cannot play,” Guardiola said.
“When he will be ready, he will play, because we need him, we need him a lot. It’s a private conversation with Kalvin.”
Following that blast from Guardiola, Leeds fans have now aimed a ruthless chant at their former player. City travelled to Elland Road for a Premier League game on Wednesday night, with Phillips starting on the bench, and Leeds fans were heard singing: ” Kalvin Phillips, he eats what he wants.”
While the supporters where less than flattering towards the England international, his former boss Jesse Marsch did defend him. The Leeds boss insisted his squad missed the character that Phillips brought to the team.
“We still miss Kalvin. He came for one of our matches, Fulham, and you could see he felt the pain of losing that match with us after the match. He missed being here. Of course, he misses being here, he misses the guys,” he said.
“He’s got a lot of great friends here, this club is in his heart. Kalvin was such a good player, but for me, he was a really likeable, heart-warming person to have around the team. He got along with everybody here, with the older players, as well as the younger players, with me as well as the academy coaches.
“If you were to ask me what was the hardest part of replacing Kalvin, it was a little bit of that – making sure that we still had the feeling of what Leeds United is, what it means to be from Leeds, what the history of the club means.”
With Phillips on the bench, Guardiola selected a midfield of Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne for the trip to Leeds. The reigning champions were unable to find a way through the Leeds defence in the first-half, with the score goalless at the break.
Source: mirror.co.uk
