Will City Have A Phillips Lifeline This Summer

It has turned into a very disappointing 2024/25 campaign for Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola, both on a domestic and Champions League front, and after the somewhat unexpected struggles we have had this year there is currently no guarantee that things will not get a little bit worse before they begin to get better.

Whether or not you blame the sideshow that is our Financial Fair Play issues, you focus in on some of the ridiculous injuries that we have had to deal with, or even whether you look wider to a more aging squad that may have lost its spark, or some transfer deals in recent times that have just not lived up to their billing - either way it is a big summer for Guardiola and we can probably expect quite the rebuild when you look at all the varying factors that have contributed to our fall.

For those fans who enjoy the arrival of summer sports such as cricket, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is likely to be a great distraction from the season we have just gone through, and cricket is a natural draw for fans who like a flutter. The https://ind.1xbet.com/line/cricket/988155-india-premier-league platform offers over 100 betting markets for major cricket tournaments like the IPL, ICC World Cup, T20 leagues, and domestic matches.

With games still to play fans will not switch off just yet though, and whilst City fans will no doubt be focused on the incoming speculation rumour mill stories that are already doing the rounds, the club will rightly be looking at those players that it is time to move on, and sadly from our point of view we are going to have to take quite a significant loss on many of them given our original outlay, but the cost benefit for us will be in removing their wages from the budgets and freshening up the whole training ground and dressing room.

One player who very definitely falls into that category is former Leeds United and England defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Now 29 year old Phillips was very much a man in demand when we paid £42 million to the Elland Road outfit for his services back in the summer of 2022, but it is not unfair to say that some fans were never convinced of the role he would play given the players already on our books. If we ever made a signing to ensure he did not go elsewhere, Phillips would be high on that list.

History shows he never fitted in, he was not part of Pep's plan and with only six starts to his name he has played more football for West Ham United and Ipswich Town in recent years, and now there are reports Leeds want him to return home.

Any deal is likely subject to them again winning promotion back to the Premier League from the Championship this year, but reports are quoting unnamed sources who state that a verbal agreement for a return is already in place, and it is believed that we would be willing to cut our losses at around the £20 million mark - but that would also require Phillips to agree a wage deduction.

In the circumstances, that would be a great deal from our point of view.