EXCLUSIVE: Fulham failed in approach for Man City midfielder
Steve Kay
- 26 Sept 2023 15:00 BST
- 3 min read
Exclusive
Fulham wanted to do a deal for Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips on Deadline Day, FootballTransfers has learnt.
We are told that contact was made between clubs over the conditions of a deal and Citizens boss Pep Guardiola even gave the green light for a move for the England international to happen.
The west London club were bracing for the departure of Joao Palhinha, who was expected to move to Bayern Munich over the summer window.
But the move faltered in the final hours and the Portuguese No.6 remained at Craven Cottage. Furthermore, at the time Phillips was adamant that he wanted to stay and fight for his place at the Etihad. Sources tell us that Man City are still open to suitable offers in January for Phillps, but a move is dependent on whether the player is happy to leave - his contract does not expire until June 2028.
Guardiola is hoping that Phillips can depart so the Spaniard can bring in another backup.
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Phillips joined from Leeds in the summer of 2022 on a six-year contract for an initial fee of £42 million. But the Yorkshireman has found opportunities hard to come by since arriving in Manchester.
Across two seasons, Phillips - whose FootballTransfers' Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) is at €22.5m -has just made 14 Premier League appearances and a mere 23 in all competitions. Question marks have surrounded Phillips' future for some time and there were links to other Premier League outfits over the summer, such as Liverpool.
The 27-year-old is expected to feature in Man City's Carabao Cup clash with Newcastle on Wednesday night, with Rodri banned for three matches for his red card offence on Morgan Gibbs-White over the weekend.
