At least three Premier League clubs are now said to be interested in signing sidelined Manchester City and England player Kalvin Phillips.
Be it through multiple injury problems or simply struggling to break into Man City’s already well-oiled midfield machine, Kalvin Phillips has spent the majority of his time at the Etihad off the pitch, making just 12 league appearances for them in the league since he joined in July 2022.
The former Leeds man was snapped as one of Britain’s best young talents when he made the switch from Yorkshire to Manchester but just hasn’t been given a real run of games in Pep Guardiola‘s side in that time, leaving the likes of Newcastle United to consider signing him either on loan or permanently.
While The i recently reported that Newcastle were in talks to acquire him following Sandro Tonali’s lengthy ban for betting infringement but may have cooled their interest due to concerns over ‘knee-jerk’ transfer decisions, they now say that two London clubs are also debating sweeping up for the CDM.
Could Kalvin Phillips be on the move this month? ➡️
Mark McAdam understands that their have been inquires from Juventus for the midfielder, who joined Manchester City for £42m plus some extras 🔵 pic.twitter.com/ZsGS2LDcHS
According to i Sport, Fulham and Crystal Palace are the latest Premier League outfits said to be “monitoring his situation”, with Spurs having also been linked with a move back in December 2023.
A deal between the treble-winners and the Italian giants was thought to be making good progress but reportedly hit a stumbling block when Juve only expressed a desire to sign him on loan until the end of the season and the Club World Cup champions preferred a permanent deal.
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Either way, all signs are pointing to his time in blue being up, with Fabrizio Romano reporting as early as October that it is “almost over” for him as Pep simply doesn’t see Kalvin Phillips fitting into his vision.
Given the fact that Phillips is now 28, i.e. approaching his ‘prime years’ and still not getting anywhere near enough minutes across all competitions, both the player and the club will surely want to resolve the unfortunate exile.
Even in the fixtures he has featured in, most of his appearances have come from the bench and are often limited to small cameos towards the end of games.
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The fact that Euro 2024 is also fast approaching will no doubt provide extra motivation for Phillips, his agent and Gareth Southgate alike will all be hoping to get his one-time first-team starter back playing regular football.
What do you think should happen, City fans: should the club offload him or do you want him to stay and fight for a place?
"I am so, so sorry" 🙁
Will Kalvin Phillips leave Manchester City in January?
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
3rd January 2024 
