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West Ham want to sign Kalvin Phillips this summer and Manchester City could be open to a sale, according to journalist Ben Jacobs.
Phillips joined City in a £42.5m deal from Leeds last summer but has failed to make any sort of impact at the Etihad Stadium, featuring for just 56 minutes in the Premier League all season.
West Ham are said to be interested in signing the England international as a potential replacement for Declan Rice, who is expected to leave in the summer, and Jacobs told TEAMtalk (20 March) that City could be open to an exit but nothing about the deal is advanced currently.
“So there is a possibility that if the right offer comes in, Man City might consider an early exit, but it’s not advanced at this point.”
“There’s some rumours, for example, that West Ham United are looking, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make a connection between the near certainty that Declan Rice will leave.
“West Ham are totally resigned to him going, and there’s plenty of clubs circling. So there’s nothing to suggest that that sale won’t happen over the summer to somebody, and then West Ham would need a defensive midfielder.
“But of course, they can’t move significantly before first understanding what the price is going to be for Declan Rice.
“Secondly, they need to protect their status because that type of move would not be of any remote interest to Kalvin Phillips if West Ham go down.
“From City’s point of view, they still want to assess how he actually develops because he’s relatively new at the football club,” continued Jacobs.
“So it’s not a given that Kalvin Phillips will leave, but it hasn’t worked out as all parties had hoped. Up until this point, there’s still time to change the narrative but it’s not unthinkable come the summer, that he’ll exit and West Ham are one of the Premier League clubs looking.”
One to watch
Phillips is an exceptional footballer, and we know that David Moyes is a fan of his after he made a £50m bid to sign him from Leeds in January 2022.
But the player now reportedly earns £150,000 per-week (Football Insider) and there are absolutely zero guarantees that Moyes will be in charge next season, nevermind the fact we might not be a Premier League side.
Rice’s exit certainly seems inevitable, but until we have that cash in the bank our funds are likely to be depleted for the summer after spending £185m over the last two windows, so it could be a waiting game.
Phillips is unlikely to want to drop down so quickly after finally climbing up the table to a Champions League side, and he’ll want to prove to himself and everyone else that he is capable of playing at that level.
But West Ham would be a perfect platform for him to reinvigorate himself and get back on track, so there is almost certainly legs to this story and it’s certainly one to watch going into the summer if we stay a Premier League side.