West Ham United: David Moyes urged to drop Manchester City loanee Kalvin Phillips to reserves
Gabby Agbonlahor has suggested David Moyes should consider giving Kalvin Phillips minutes with the West Ham Under-23s side.
Phillips has badly struggled in a West Ham shirt since arriving on loan from Manchester City in the January transfer window.
The England international most recently gave away a penalty after being brought on as a substitute in the 4-3 loss to Newcastle United.
A lack of minutes for Phillips over the previous 18 months is catching up with him, but Agbonlahor believes there is a way to rectify that.
“He doesn’t have the energy and isn’t keeping up with the pace of the game,” he said on talkSPORT Drive [2 April, 4:15pm].
“Now the hard thing for him is, should he go and get some minutes for the Under-23s side to get him up to speed?”
Kalvin Phillips struggling at West Ham United
It is quite clear that Phillips is lacking fitness and indeed confidence. That makes for a Catch-22 situation as Phillips needs starts, but he will not start regularly until he shows he can make a positive impact.
With the games coming thick and fast for West Ham, there are plenty of opportunities for Moyes to use Phillips. However, on the basis of what we have seen, there is little chance of him starting against Tottenham or Bayer Leverkusen.
What is now quite clear is that United will not be making an offer to Manchester City to sign Phillips on a permanent basis in the summer, even if he does turn things around in the next month or so.
The unfortunate truth is that the former Leeds United player’s career has badly stagnated since departing Elland Road and it is difficult to see him getting it back on track anytime soon.
The only positive is that the club did not fork out £40million-plus for the midfielder’s signature in the summer.
In other West Ham news, Agbonlahor delivered a “frightening” verdict as he weighed in on whether Moyes should stay at London Stadium.
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