It is going to take some time to digest, but Kalvin Phillips is edging closer to securing a £45 million transfer from Leeds United to Manchester City.
There hasn’t been any confirmation from either club yet, nor from the player himself, but one Leeds player has hinted that it’s just a matter of time.
Jack Harrison has liked Sky Sports’ Instagram post, reporting that Leeds agreed to a fee of £45-50 million with Manchester City for their star midfielder – left-back Leif Davis, who was on-loan last season, also liked the post.
The only positive those from Yorkshire can take from this deal is that they have already brought in three new faces and it seems as though the deal itself should go through before pre-season kicks off.
The last thing Jesse Marsch needs is the final details of the deal still being ironed out and they are just a few days away from the opening day of the 2022/23 Premier League season – nonetheless, Gary Lineker thinks it’s ‘fine progress’ in Phillips’ career.
Saying that, regardless of how quick this will happen, it’s something that will take a pretty long time for the Leeds fans to digest.
They returned to England’s top-flight after nearly two decades of struggle in the lower leagues and someone like Phillips was at the heart of that all-action Marcelo Bielsa side.
Bielsa transformed that fresh-faced youngster that liked to get forward and attack into a defensive machine, but he has now been snapped up by one of his students in Pep Guardiola.
WHO WILL RAPHINHA JOIN?
The issue for Leeds is that it’s not only Phillps that they might possibly lose this summer because Raphinha is being heavily linked to head for the exit door as well.
Whilst their hard-hitting midfielder missed a chunk of the season through injury, their trickster out on the right was fit throughout the campaign and he scored a valuable 11 Premier League goals.
That was even more important given that Patrick Bamford just had zero luck during his injury-ravaged campaign and the Whites missed his presence up front.
Nonetheless, it’s about to become a reality that Leeds will line up without both Phillips and Raphinha next season.
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