Tony Cascarino has expressed his surprise at the ‘low fee’ Leeds are seemingly going to sell Kalvin Phillips for, as he compared it with Yves Bissouma’s transfer to Tottenham and the fee on Declan Rice’s head, as he told talkSPORT.
The former striker thinks the rumoured £42 million fee that Leeds have seemingly agreed for Phillips is ‘quite cheap’ and he thinks he would have gone for ‘£60 million+’ last summer – Jack Harrison recently liked a post about his possible transfer.
Tottenham recently signed Brighton midfielder, Yves Bissouma, for £25 million – he had one-year left on his contract at the Amex Stadium – Chris Sutton expressed his surprise at the fee, at the time of the transfer.
Whilst those two players have been sold or will be sold for those fees, it’s a completely different story at the London Stadium involving West Ham and RIce.
Cascarino touched on Phillips’ transfer fee, as he compared it to his England teammate, Rice and Tottenham’s new man, Bissouma.
“He will probably play second fiddle to Rodri, I think,” said Sutton. “He had an outstanding season and Pep doesn’t like to play two holding midfielders.
“Maybe you could debate, has Kalvin Phillips made the right call to go to Manchester City and you are never guaranteed (a start). But the holding midfield role will still be Rodri for long periods of the season.
“I thought it was quite cheap. Now, he has an injury-plagued season. If you go last summer, I think someone would have openly paid £60+ million for Kalvin Phillips. But he has been injured for most of the season.
“They are getting a really quality player. You can trust Phillips to do a job for you – if you says Rice and Phillips who did brilliantly at Euro 2020. One club in West Ham is talking about him being £150 million, now the other has gone for £42 million. I do think there is more in Rice. Play in more than one position and he’s quicker than Phillips. But not a great deal in them, like a £100 million difference.
“We have seen Bissouma go to Tottenham for a relatively low fee, which is £25 million. Okay, he had a year left on his contract, so slightly different circumstances. Players without big numbers or stats. Their fees aren’t quite as big. The only one is Declan Rice.”
NEARLY £50 MILLION FOR A BACK-UP
This is a risk from Phillips and one that he hopes doesn’t harm his England chances ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Given the lack of depth in defensive midfield for England, it probably won’t be too much of an issue, but one thing is for sure, he’s not starting ahead of Rodri next season.
Given that Pep Guardiola doesn’t like to play two holding midfielders, then Man City are effectively playing nearly £50 million for a player that will warm the bench, just like £100 million Jack Grealish.
If that doesn’t prove that teams like Man City are playing their part in football being an absolute mess, then nothing will because it is a bit of a joke that the game has come to this.
Plus, added with the five subs being introduced next season, Man City’s bench in itself might be worth more than the teams they come up against.
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