West Ham midfielder opens up on difficult period in his career

Kalvin Phillips recently confessed to feeling “useless” during his time at Manchester City, having only featured in four league games this season.

The midfielder has been limited to a bit-part role at the club since his £45 million move from Leeds United to the Premier League champions in 2022.

In the 18 months since he arrived in Manchester, he has only played 31 games in all competitions. This season, he featured in just four league games, accumulating a mere 89 minutes of action before joining West Ham on loan last month.

The 28-year-old was included in the starting lineup for his debut with the Hammers against Bournemouth earlier this month. Unfortunately, his first touch of the match inadvertently allowed Dominic Solanke to tap into an empty net, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

His luck didn’t turn around in West Ham’s next game against Manchester United, as another poor touch led to him being intercepted by Scott McTominay, who then set up Alejandro Garnacho for his second goal in what ended as a 3-0 win for the Red Devils.

The Yorkshireman admitted in his latest interview with West Ham: “The one thing that I wanted when I left Man City in January was to be back playing and to be enjoying myself playing football as well.

“When you don’t play football for so long, you kind of feel a little bit useless because you’ve not been doing anything. So, for me, it was just more coming to a good club with good fans and just enjoying my football again.”

Phillips’ West Ham career has not got off to the best of starts, but the good news is there is still plenty of time to turn it around.