da bet7： West Ham United fell short in their January attempts to sign Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips, but they must rectify their failed bid by landing the 27-year-old at the end of the campaign.
What’s the word?
da betobet： Having signed for Pep Guardiola’s side for £45m last summer, Phillips has been beset with unfortunate injuries and has failed to leave his mark on the Etihad Stadium, consequently being touted with a move to a host of Premier League outfits.
Among those are West Ham, who are in dire need of an injection of first-rate quality after a deeply underwhelming campaign so far and recently enquired about the possibility of securing the 27-year-old on loan for the remainder of the season, as per The Sun.
According to The Athletic, a summer move is ‘not completely off the cards’, with his integration into the Manchester City machine not as seamless as he or the club might have liked.
“Destroyer”
With captain Declan Rice indicating a desire to move on from the London Stadium, the need for a new high-octane midfield engine has arguably never been greater under David Moyes’ tutelage.
Having only made eight appearances and one start across all competitions for the Cityzens after departing boyhood club Leeds United last year, Phillips has so far failed to make the emphatic introduction that he would have been hoping for in Manchester after years of stellar work for the Whites.
While a large chunk of that misfortune is down to an injury sustained prior to the 2022 World Cup, with the England midfielder missing 11 matches due to a shoulder issue, he is unlikely to usurp the likes of Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne from their places in the starting XI any time soon. The dynamic Bernardo Silva has also regularly fluctuated between offensive and deep-lying creative roles.
This is no bad reflection on his own skill set, as the Englishman has emerged as one of the country’s most dogged and robust figures in the Premier League over the past few seasons, but rather an ode to the supreme quality of Guardiola’s established midfield triad.
While Gundogan’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and Silva is persistently tethered to rumours of a departure, Phillips might find it best to cut his losses and move elsewhere to serve as a focal point in a team which can offer him a regular starting berth.
Struggling as they are this year, West Ham could offer the Yorkshire “legend” – as dubbed by Amos Murphy – a more prominent role, rekindling the form which saw him earn seasonal Sofascore league ratings of 7.21 and 6.84 over the last couple of years.
As per FBref, the £150k-per-week phenomenon ranks among the top 1% of positional peers in Europe’s five main leagues for blocks, the top 3% for tackles and the top 25% for progressive passes over the past 12 months, illustrating his aptitude in breaking up play and recycling possession into forward-moving transitions.
Once labelled a “destroyer” by Steve McClaren, that epithet is a perfect embodiment of the destructive element, grit and mettle that Phillips could instil at the London Stadium once again.
As such, the 25-cap international would be a superb addition to Moyes’ outfit, with his prospective addition blanketing a layer of resilience and composure to alleviate the Hammers’ defensive woes. West Ham technical director Mark Noble would do well to recruit a tenacious and progressive presence who can steer the ship back on course and unleash the Irons’ former steel.