Barcelona's recent transfer target Kalvin Phillips has opened up on why he had barely played for Manchester City.
One of the reasons was him being... overweight.
"When Pep came out [after the 2022 World Cup] and said I was overweight, he was right to do so... but there are different ways to go about it (...) I did not disagree, but obviously, it took a big knock on my confidence (...) My family were not happy about it, either. Especially my mum (...) People can say overweight like it's 10 kg. I was probably 1.5 kg over my weight target.
"I felt like if I wasn't going to play at Man City, I want to go to a club where I'm wanted. Not that Man City didn't want me, but I just wanted to go somewhere where the manager was really keen and where he really wanted me," the midfielder also said.
Interestingly, Pep Guardiola used to say he simply couldn't see Phillips in his tactical plans.
Barca were said to be really keen on landing Phillips on loan in January. However, the club didn't manage to generate the required financial fair-play margin to be able to register the 28-year-old. The defensive midfielder ended up joining West Ham after all.
