Incoming? Kalvin Phillips

[Nick Jansky]

I think you’ll find we aren’t paying City anything. He wants to play - & is mates with Bamford. That is why he’s here & likely wants to come back next season.

Why do you think we aren’t paying City anything?

 

[CPB]

Why do you think we aren’t paying City anything?

I don't think we did pay city anything but we did pay for a small portion of his big wages.

I might be in a minority but I can see why it could be a gamble worth exploring. But can't be what we pin our hopes of a season on.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I don't think we did pay city anything but we did pay for a small portion of his big wages.

I might be in a minority but I can see why it could be a gamble worth exploring. But can't be what we pin our hopes of a season on.

People keep saying these things but nobody has any idea what we have paid City, as a proportion of his wage or otherwise. We might or might not have paid a loan fee, but we certainly haven’t had him for free.

I agree it would be a gamble. We gambled on him in January and it completely failed. Cannon, McGuinness and Chong all contributed significantly more than Phillips. The question is whether another gamble over a longer period is worth it. I don’t think so, I see the potential for it being another Tom Davies, but if we do it I hope I’m proved wrong.

I also think some on here are dazzled by the idea of having a big name.

 

[Pedro Verde]

I suppose it depends if we sign Phillips how much of our budget it takes up and how it will affect possible other signings in other areas of the pitch. That we do not know and probably wont know until the end of the transfer window

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

 

[Broomhall Blade]

People keep saying these things but nobody has any idea what we have paid City, as a proportion of his wage or otherwise. We might or might not have paid a loan fee, but we certainly haven’t had him for free.

I agree it would be a gamble. We gambled on him in January and it completely failed. Cannon, McGuinness and Chong all contributed significantly more than Phillips. The question is whether another gamble over a longer period is worth it. I don’t think so, I see the potential for it being another Tom Davies, but if we do it I hope I’m proved wrong.

I also think some on here are dazzled by the idea of having a big name.

"People keep saying these things but nobody has any idea what we have paid City"
Come on every Hawaiian Shirt wearing debt avoiding scrounging deluded scrubber from S6 knows its 40k a week.

 

[Carlton Blade]

If City play ball on a similar deal to Jan he'll be back and United would frankly be mental not to pursue it. Jairo negotiations have failed but if he gets real later in the summer it could still happen. I wouldn't be banking on the big foreign interest coming to fruition if I was him. Are a a parachute club going to come in? Maybe. I'm worried about us getting gazumped on Phillips or the can being kicked down the road due to Pep leaving.United need him in on day one of preseason. If it drags on time to move on. Same with Jairo. It's not good enough to be a sixty minute player and a walking muscle injury.

Gazumped by who? He's not played 2k minutes in a season since the first Covd season and he's scored 13 career goals/has 12 career assists (all those for Leeds).

He's had 2 disastrous PL loans and his 3 game stint with United. Whatever he once was, the evidence is that he is extremely unlikely to ever be that again and he certainly doesn't solve the problems United have with athleticism in midfield.

He's a luxury signing, and a risk that I hope the club doesn't pursue.

 

[chesblade]

People keep saying these things but nobody has any idea what we have paid City, as a proportion of his wage or otherwise. We might or might not have paid a loan fee, but we certainly haven’t had him for free.

I agree it would be a gamble. We gambled on him in January and it completely failed. Cannon, McGuinness and Chong all contributed significantly more than Phillips. The question is whether another gamble over a longer period is worth it. I don’t think so, I see the potential for it being another Tom Davies, but if we do it I hope I’m proved wrong.

I also think some on here are dazzled by the idea of having a big name.

That's probably owners, see he plays for city and think he must be good then

 

[Nick Jansky]

That's probably owners, see he plays for city and think he must be good then

It’s probably not the owners.

 

[TJ blade]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

Absolutely bang on mate

 

[Blade56]

Have we learnt nothing?

We have, has Wilder?

 

[nopigfansintown]

Gazumped by who? He's not played 2k minutes in a season since the first Covd season and he's scored 13 career goals/has 12 career assists (all those for Leeds).

He's had 2 disastrous PL loans and his 3 game stint with United. Whatever he once was, the evidence is that he is extremely unlikely to ever be that again and he certainly doesn't solve the problems United have with athleticism in midfield.

He's a luxury signing, and a risk that I hope the club doesn't pursue.

Anybody that will pay a higher % of his wages. We'll have to agree to disagree. I think he hasn't shown it because he's just sat on his massive salary collecting his money. He didn't become a bad player because Man City didn't fancy him. If he gets himself fit there's nothing in his age or injury profile to suggest he won't be a good player at this level again. He doesn't have the wear and tear associated with an athlete at his age which can be seen as a mark in his favour. A renaissance is more than possible. If that happens somebody will get a bargain.

 

[Carlton Blade]

We'll have to agree to disagree. I think he hasn't shown it because he's just sat on his massive salary collecting his money. He didn't become a bad player because Man City didn't fancy him. If he gets himself fit there's nothing in his age or injury profile to suggest he won't be a good player at this level again. He doesn't have the wear and tear associated with an athlete at his age which can be seen as a mark in his favour. A renaissance is more than possible. If that happens somebody will get a bargain.

It's certainly possible. I just don't think it's likely. 30 appearances out of a possible 99 over 2 1/2 seasons of loan is a decent sample size of injury and performance problems.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Anybody that will pay a higher % of his wages. We'll have to agree to disagree. I think he hasn't shown it because he's just sat on his massive salary collecting his money. He didn't become a bad player because Man City didn't fancy him. If he gets himself fit there's nothing in his age or injury profile to suggest he won't be a good player at this level again. He doesn't have the wear and tear associated with an athlete at his age which can be seen as a mark in his favour. A renaissance is more than possible. If that happens somebody will get a bargain.

He hasn't become a bad player - you're right. What he's become is a £multi-millionaire who never has to work a day more in his life...

Bit like golfers who win a major and you never hear from again. He's climbed the mountain and is now sat on the top of it drinking cognac and lighting Cuban cigars with £20 notes....

He's so not the profile Wilder MkI built his reputation on. He picked up players with a point to prove. Philips has proved his point and has nothing left to prove...

 

[john Mathison]

KP, is a very large risk. Problem is , that Wilder wants him, and if he was prepared to lose Jairo to get him, I worry about his judgement.

 

[MartBlade]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

Mcginn looked pretty good for Villa tonight
I think you’re right generally though… you need a blend that includes a lot of athleticism to support your playmakers. For me, we still haven’t found an adequate replacement for Norwood. Somebody who can dictate a game and rapidly change the point of attack.

 

[YES Blade]

No club should offer City any deal where a single penny is guaranteed. It should all be performance based fees.

I’d only consider signing him if a loan payment is based on promotion. No promotion and he should cost nothing.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

 

[Champagneblade]

I still don’t think that was a red card.

If he played for Arsenal or Celtic, going on recent games, he’d have got a yellow.

The authorities have no issue flexing their muscles against the middling clubs.

 

[Champagneblade]

Mcginn looked pretty good for Villa tonight
I think you’re right generally though… you need a blend that includes a lot of athleticism to support your playmakers. For me, we still haven’t found an adequate replacement for Norwood. Somebody who can dictate a game and rapidly change the point of attack.

Funny thing is, he’s gone onto great things yet when we were in the Premier League we were quite positively comparing Fleck to him that first season and the promotion one and we were right at the time.

Sadly one has been hampered by injuries whilst the other has really kicked on.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

View attachment 237559

That's exactly my point. Exactly the 'type' of player we should be bringing in (on a perm)....

 

[Shawy24]

View attachment 237559

I assume you have Barry Binbag in mind.

 

[Blade56]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

Bang on. Wilders teams tend to be slow, mid to small (for footballers) and old. Times we comment on how big our opponents are as teams come out of tunnel.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

It feels to me like Wilder is gambling his own future on Phillips

 

[GrunkyPeep]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Us, and pretty much every other club in the country btw.

How many of them are around at the minute?

Let's be realistic, any player like that with proven quality is out of our range, so we'd have to take a punt on a Soumare type player, and that didn't work last season.

I'd guess that Wilder saw enough from Phillips in training to believe that he would be less of a punt than a Soumare type gamble.

 

[Uganda Blade]

It feels to me like Wilder is gambling his own future on Phillips

I wonder if CW sees this season as his last chance with us, hence he's gambling on experience to get us promoted and to keep him in a job?

 

[Grappler]

If we sign Phillips and not a 6ft 4in 22 year old decathlete for centre midfield, then we'll be bang on trouble....

We need at least x3 big, strong, explosive physical specimens not 30+ poppadom legged has beens.

Have we learnt nothing?

Who have been our biggest successes over recent years? MGW - explosive, Ndiaye - explosive, Berge - huge, Souttar - huge...

Small undynamic players just don't succeed in modern football.

Said it before, a few times, but I remember years ago when we lined up against (Tony Pulis) Stoke City, just before everyone shakes hands at the start of the match, and it looked like a load of men (them) lining up against the local under 14's team (us). I know Pulis got stick from some quarters, for not buying players under 6 feet tall, but it got them into the top flight.

As we saw in the final few matches of this season, we constantly had Davies hoof the ball from goal, only for it to come straight back at us, because we won nothing in the air. With Sam McCallum back in the side, ok, do that, but without some height and strength in the middle of the field, just play it out from the back.

We also need some rapid players, as you say. Billy Sharp seemed to get faster as he got older, which doesn't usually happen, and Leon Clarke had some pace, but was also tall, well built, and strong. The blue print for the modern day striker.

Souttar and Ahmedhodzic at the back, fine, and/or MGW and Ndiaye in the side, absolute cheat code luxury.

 

[LBA_Blade]

I don't think we did pay city anything but we did pay for a small portion of his big wages.

I might be in a minority but I can see why it could be a gamble worth exploring. But can't be what we pin our hopes of a season on.

The only reason we didn't pay City much for his services was because he was only available for 2 1/2 appearances. Otherwise we would have paid the full loan fee that was agreed, City were definitely up for paying a large proportion. With him being on a reported £150k a week, we have to think about 26/27 season goals and expectations, ultimately in the league next season will be Burnley, Wolves, West Ham/Spurs, Southampton and Wrexham. Also having 25/26 3rd place Millwall and either 'Boro or Hull out of those teams automatic places aren't a given to even them never mind us. With extended playoffs that's ok however we haven't exactly had any luck in them previously and wouldn't fancy our chances. Phillips will only be here for 26/27, the wages that would be required could be better spent elsewhere to consolidate ourselves in and around the top half. Wilder's contract is up at the end of next season as it stands along with a few other key signings such as Bamford, although Wilder seems obsessed with bringing Phillips in, Phillips alone isn't going to change the squad next season and won't affect it at all when he goes back (we still need to sort out our defence) also Phillips might not be available for loan dependent on who takes over as manager at City anyway so I think we need to start widening the net a bit and looking long term. Who is in there for 2026-2030 for example.