Kalvin Phillips is reportedly closing in on a move to Manchester City and his arrival at the Etihad could really shake things up at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester City are arguably the best team in England, maybe even Europe, but for one reason or another, they’ve been unable to win the biggest prize of all, the Champions League.
Last season, City came agonisingly close to reaching the Champions League final, crashing out in the semis against Real Madrid in dramatic fashion, and sadly, one man who was to blame was Fernandinho.
The 37-year-old’s career is winding down, and unfortunately, you could see that he’d lost a yard or two against Madrid last term.
Sadly, the same could be said of the Brazilian on the final day of the Premier League season as Aston Villa took a 2-0 lead at the Etihad through some shoddy defending from the City skipper.
Fernandinho was hooked at half-time and City would go on to win the title, but the Brazilian almost cost his side two trophies last season.
The veteran midfielder has, of course, since departed the club, and now, he could be replaced by Phillips.
The Yorkshire Pirlo is one of the Premier League’s top midfielders. After all, he was England’s Player of the Year in 2021, and if he joins City, he could finally give them the depth required to reach that next level.
Phillips can play as either a holding midfielder or a centre-half, and he could be the perfect Fernandinho replacement going forward.
This is, of course, bad news for Liverpool who have been City’s closest rivals on all fronts over the past few years, and the irony is that the Reds could have had Phillips themselves.
According to a report by The National News, Liverpool passed up on Phillips even though they thought a deal could be done easily, and if the ‘brilliant’ midfielder ends up at the Etihad, the Reds could live to regret not getting this deal done.
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