Kalvin Phillips struggled for regular football under one former Leeds United manager.
Kalvin Phillips has told LUTV that he felt like he should have been more involved in Leeds United’s first-team squad under Steve Evans.
The Scot was Leeds manager from October 2015 until the following May, but failed to win a new contract under then-owner Massimo Cellino in spite of the fact he achieved his remit of keeping United in the Championship.
Phillips, who broke into the Whites’ senior squad under Neil Redfearn and started three Championship games under Uwe Rosler at the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, swiftly fell out of favour under Evans and didn’t start another league match for the rest of the campaign.
The 21-year-old midfielder became a big player under Evans’s successor Garry Monk and now looks an even bigger asset after starting every Championship game this season since Thomas Christiansen replaced the now-Middlesbrough boss in June.
But Phillips, who has four goals in 11 league games this season, says he felt like the former Rotherham United boss should have played him more.
“I don’t have anything against Steve Evans but the year he was here I believe that I could’ve been playing but he obviously thought differently,” he told LUTV.
Evans enjoyed a spell out of football after his Leeds departure but is now in charge of League Two outfit Mansfield Town.
Phillips has come in for criticism in recent weeks and it remains to be seen whether Christiansen keeps him in the first XI when United host Reading at Elland Road on Saturday.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
