Kalvin Mark Phillips (born 2 December 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City and the England national team.
A Leeds United academy graduate, Phillips made his first-team debut in 2015. In the 2019–20 season, Phillips was a member of the Leeds team coached by Marcelo Bielsa that won the Championship. Following this season, Phillips made his international debut for the England national team, and was part of the England team that finished runner-up at UEFA Euro 2020.
After starting his career as a box-to-box or central midfielder, Phillips was converted into a defensive midfielder by Marcelo Bielsa before the start of the 2018–19 season. He is known for his range of short sharp passing, long ball distribution and ability to start attacks whilst covering his defensive duties, with him described as a 'lynchpin'.
Marcelo Bielsa described his style "He's very good at getting the ball and putting it into another space, a better space. He's very good when he has to cover the team when our full-backs go in attack. And when we are outnumbered, he is very good with his defending."[74] Phillips was also converted into playing as a centre back under Bielsa.
For his similar style of play, Phillips was given the nickname "Yorkshire Pirlo" by Leeds fans in homage to Andrea Pirlo. Following his performance for England against Croatia at Euro 2020, he was described as “brilliant at finding little pockets of space that turn a simple passing move into a dangerous attack.” |
