Speaking to The Athletic, Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani has been discussing Kalvin Phillips after his departure to Manchester City.
The Whites sold the Yorkshire Pirlo to the reigning Premier League champions this summer, and it’s fair to say that the club were fairly cut up about losing their homegrown superstar.
Radrizzani has made it clear that he would happily have kept Phillips at Leeds for his entire career, stating that he could even have been the next club captain after Liam Cooper if he’d stayed.
What’s been said?
Radrizzani spoke about selling Phillips and the potential of the midfielder becoming captain.
“Over time we need to be better at keeping some players, this is not a forever strategy. In time I think we’ll be able to keep our best players and make them lifetime Leeds. For Kalvin Phillips it was a different situation to Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips could have stayed here all his life and become the next captain. I didn’t want to let him go, he decided to go and it was clear to me that it was his ambition to play at that level,” Radrizzani said.
Would have been a great captain
It’s a shame that Phillips has left Leeds, because he would have been one of the club’s great captains.
Liam Cooper is, of course, a brilliant leader in his own right, but Phillips was Leeds through and through.
A local lad come good, Phillips understood the club in a way no other player truly did, but sadly, his talents meant that he was destined to join a Champions League team.
Phillips would have gone down as a bona fide Leeds legend if he’d remained at Elland Road for his entire career as Radrizzani said, but in the modern game, a one-club man at a team like Leeds is incredibly rare.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
