It’s fair to say that, since featuring together at the heart of Gareth Southgate’s midfield during the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy two-and-a-half years ago, the respective careers of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips have gone in very different directions.
And, OK, Kalvin Phillips may have more trophies to his name – part of Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning squad last term – but ask yourself this? Would you be happier captaining your team to Europa Conference League glory – as Declan Rice did prior to his £105 million move to Arsenal – or watch on, more a spectator rather than a contributor, as Manchester City’s conquer the continent?
To say Phillips’ spell at City has been disappointing would be an understatement. With just 89, he’s played fewer Premier League minutes in 2023/24 than Stefan Ortega, Oscar Bobb and 19-year-old Rico Lewis. An Etihad departure oddly feels both premature and also somewhat belated.
While Rice takes his game to a new level at Arsenal, Phillips’ last 18 months is a perfect example of what can go wrong when making the step to a title-chasing club.
West United Ham close in on Kalvin Phillips deal
Phillips, HITC Football understands, is set to join West Ham on loan for the remainder of the season after David Moyes’ side agreed a deal with City.
And come the summer – providing Phillips can rediscover the fitness and form which made him such an integral part of Marcelo Bielsa’s wild Leeds United ride – Hammers fans may find themselves in in a position to answer a question which had sparked such debate not so long ago. One Neil Redfearn, who worked with a young Phillips at Leeds long before his breakout under Marcelo Bielsa, answered with a great deal with certainty back in 2020.
“If you look at the midfield players that he’s up against (for an England place), people like Declan Rice… I’m not saying that he’s a bad young player but, to me, he’s not in the same ilk as Kalvin,” Redfearn said on the Scarborough News podcast.
“I don’t think there’s any comparison to be honest with you. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s playing in the Premier League with West Ham that gets him in.”
Phillips following in Declan Rice’s footsteps
Redfearn’s comments will certainly raise plenty of eyebrows now, of course. Rice the driving force in Arsenal’s midfield while Phillips wastes away on the Man City bench.
But, with West Ham closing in on a deal for the latter six months after cashing in on the former, what better move, what better destination, for Phillips to remind everyone why he was viewed as Declan Rice’s equal not so long ago?
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