Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has suggested that reported Liverpool target Kalvin Phillips will make the final decision on his future, as quoted in Leeds Live.
90min reported this week that Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are among the clubs interested in signing Phillips from Premier League rivals Leeds in the summer of 2022.
Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea are also reported to be keen on the 25-year-old England international midfielder.
Leeds head coach Bielsa has raved about Phillips, and has suggested that the 25-year-old will have the final say on his future.
Leeds Live quotes Bielsa as saying when asked if Phillips will stay at Leeds: “That’s a question that Kalvin needs to answer. Of course for us he’s a very valuable player and we have to adapt ourselves to how he feels belonging to Leeds in the measure that his career develops.
“I have seen in him, a conduct that I very rarely seen in a player in how football is right now. For a player to decline a team above the level where he is at, due to the love of a club where he’s at, it’s not frequent.
“And I have the certainty that Kalvin is going to enjoy for the rest of his life, the decisions he makes. He will be loved definitively in the place where he was born and where he belongs.
“When you go for the money or the evolution, you resolve a moment in your sporting career, but when you opt for the affection of your people, you resolve in commas your life forever, because when you are loved where you are from, the possibilities to be happy increase.”
Blow for Liverpool?
Bielsa clearly values Phillips, and from his comments it is clear that the Leeds head coach does not want the Englishman to leave.
It is unlikely that Leeds will want to sell Phillips next summer, although we all know that money talks.
The Daily Star reported this week that Manchester United want the Leeds star, adding that the midfielder is valued at £60 million.
For £60 million, Liverpool would get a class player who can only get better.
After all, Phillips is only 25 now.
However, there is a very good chance that Liverpool will not get to sign Phillips, even for £60 million.
That’s because the Leeds star’s agent is reported to have said that the midfielder wants to stay at Elland Road and is willing to sign a new deal.
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