Aston Villa have reportedly been expressing an interest in Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips, but they could now seemingly be backing away because of the asking price.
Aston Villa’s pursuit of Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips has hit the headlines during the early part of the summer transfer window, and it could now be halting to an end pretty quickly to the disappointment of the newly-promoted side.
The Sun are reporting that Leeds have slapped a £30 million price-tag on their player, who has been attracting the interest of Villa, who earned promotion by beating Derby County in the Championship play-off final in May.
It isn’t a surprise that Leeds aren’t willing to part ways with one of their best talents because he is an important cog in a wheel that wants to drive to promotion next season.
Added with that, he is an academy player and a midfielder that is very popular amongst his own supporters. It is a story not too dissimilar to the one Jack Grealish faced last summer.
As reported by the Daily Mail last summer, Tottenham saw a bid of £25 million rejected by Aston Villa, who had just come out of a financial storm before being rescued by their new owners – Naseef Sawaris and Wes Edens.
Simply put, Leeds are doing to Villa what the Midlands club did to Tottenham last season, and they should have no complaints about getting a taste of their own medicine.
It is understandable why Villa were so adamant to keep hold of Grealish – reference their recent promotion, and it is equally understandable why Leeds are of the same mindset.
Last season, under the stewardship of Marcelo Bielsa, they came so close to ending their long-awaited absence from England’s top-flight, as they will be so eager to put things right when the new season kicks off in August.
It would be slightly ironic if Leeds, just like Villa did, keep hold of their star man and end up earning promotion to the Premier League. If it does happen, just like the Midlands team proved, it won’t be easy.
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