Kalvin Phillips braced for Premier League battle over Manchester City exit transfer

Manchester City could yet field more than one offer for out-of-favour midfielder Kalvin Phillips during the ongoing summer transfer window.

The Englishman made his return to Manchester City match action on Tuesday night in the club’s opening pre-season friendly of their USA tour, operating in defensive midfield for the opening 45 minutes in a 3-4 defeat to Celtic.

A meeting between the Premier League and Scottish Premier League champions gave Manchester City fans plenty to be excited about when it came to what the future holds in terms of rising talents.

Oscar Bobb in particular showed his remarkable development and growth over the last 12 months, scoring and providing two assists, whilst the likes of Maximo Perrone, Joel Ndala, Callum Doyle, and James McAtee impressed.

But it was another challenging showing of football for Kalvin Phillips in a Manchester City shirt, despite Pep Guardiola glowing with praise for the 28-year-old after the contest, and his Etihad Stadium stay could be coming to a close with fresh interest now emerging.

According to the information of talkSPORT’s Alex Crook, Everton are now ready to offer Kalvin Phillips a Manchester City ‘escape route’, with the Goodison Park club on the hunt for a new midfielder after selling Amadou Onana to Aston Villa for £50 million last week.

While it is highlighted that Everton manager Sean Dyche is also personally keen to sign the 28-year-old this summer, the Merseyside club are only likely to be able to finance loan deal from Manchester City.

Everton may not have a free run at Kalvin Phillips however, with the report stating that Fulham are also monitoring the defensive midfielder as a potential replacement for Joao Palhinha, who left Craven Cottage for Bayern Munich.

Manchester City have already sanctioned one opportunity for Kalvin Phillips to rebuild his career, having sent the player to David Moyes’ West Ham United for the final six months of the last campaign.

However, a string of difficult performances and a red card, coupled with an injury to cut his stay in London short, meant Phillips would return to Manchester City with no growth in his own confidence.

It remains to be seen how much Manchester City could demand should a club show any interest in signing a permanent agreement for the Englishman, however it is highly unlikely that they will recoup anything close to their £45 million spend on the player in 2022.