Newcastle United have been heavily linked with a move for Manchester City’s Kalvin Phillips, and Fabrizio Romano has now delivered the chances of him moving to St. James’ Park in January.
How many appearances has Kalvin Phillips made for Man City?
Since putting pen to paper at the Etihad Stadium from Leeds United last summer, Phillips has only made 26 appearances, and he’s really struggled for game time this season having made zero starts and just three substitute appearances in the Premier League (WhoScored – Phillips statistics).
Pep Guardiola’s defensive midfielder still has another five years remaining on his long-term deal (Man City contracts), but due to him clearly being extremely low down in the manager’s pecking order, it’s understandable that he could want to move to a club where he’ll receive more regular minutes.
According to iNews, England’s international has emerged as a target for PIF and Eddie Howe in the northeast, alongside top-flight rivals Everton, as they weigh up their options ahead of January, and the outlet claim that the Sky Blues are willing to put the 27-year-old up for sale due to him being on the fringe of the action.
Kalvin Phillips transfer update
Writing in his column for CaughtOffside, Fabrizio Romano shared a transfer update on Kalvin Phillips and admitted that despite there being rumours regarding a move to Newcastle and Everton, they are, as it stands, not in any concrete talks:
“Kalvin Phillips – Despite links with Newcastle and Everton, I’m not aware of concrete talks on this one. Phillips wanted to stay at City this summer despite some approaches, so he’s still focused on doing his best for City and then a decision will be made later, like November or December.
"Newcastle won’t decide anything on transfer targets before they know what happens in their Champions League group.”
How much does Kalvin Phillips earn?
In M11, Phillips currently pockets £150k-per-week (Man City salaries), which he isn’t really earning considering that he’s not been able to force his way into the starting squad, but should he make the switch to Newcastle, he could definitely flourish under Howe, especially considering that he would surely relish the opportunity to begin a new adventure.
Direct free-kicks
Aerial duels
Ball interception
Discipline
Blocking the ball
(All data via WhoScored)
Tackling
The 2022 World Cup participant is currently recording a 90% pass success rate which highlights his calmness and composure on the ball, but he also loves to get stuck in having won all of his tackles made in the top-flight so far this season (FBRef – Phillips statistics).
Phillips, who has the versatility to operate in three roles in the midfield as well as at centre-back, can even contribute to efforts in the final third having clocked up 28 involvements, 14 goals and the same number of assists, since the start of his career (Transfermarkt – Phillips statistics), so this could be a risk worth taking for the Magpies hierarchy.