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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City will decide Kalvin Phillips‘ future at the end of the season following the England midfielder’s disastrous first campaign at the Etihad Stadium.
Phillips joined City in a £42 million deal from Leeds United last summer but is yet to start a Premier League game for his new club.
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The 27-year-old has played just 405 minutes this season in 17 appearances in all competitions and has been linked with moves to Liverpool and West Ham.
“Right now, absolutely, we are not thinking for one second about next season,” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
“He’s not been on the pitch much. In some things he needs to adapt a little bit more but what happens next season, I’m not concerned for one second now. We will see at the end of the season. We’ll sit with the players.
“Maybe they want more minutes or maybe they are not happy with the situation. But right now I’m not going to discuss anything.”
Phillps is likely to be on the bench again when his former club Leeds visit the Etihad on Saturday.
City have a minimum of eight games left as they try to win a treble of the Premier League title, Champions League and FA Cup and Guardiola has suggested a pressurised run-in is not the time to be giving him more minutes.
“I’m not complaining about Kalvin because when you don’t play much it’s difficult to take the rhythm,” added Guardiola.
“That role is so, so important, that’s why the lack of minutes makes the circle more difficult. But being so behind Arsenal, we cannot drop points. We haven’t had that situation of being eight, 10 points in front — in the past it happened. He can do it, but in that moment I always had the feeling Rodri knows exactly what to do in the role. He continues to do what he knows exactly he has to do.”
If Phillips decides to stay and fight for his future, he can take heart from the turnaround in Jack Grealish‘s City career.
A year ago, Grealish was on the bench for both legs of the Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid but has become a key part of Guardiola’s team this season, only failing to start two games since the start of February.
“Jack maybe didn’t play a lot of important games last season but he played a lot of minutes,” said Guardiola.
“It depends on the players, at the end we’re here, I try to be honest with the questions and my feelings. My feelings sometimes change. But at the end it belongs to the players, they have to convince himself and the team and not because I say something it’s going to happen.
“They have to earn my confidence. All of them, not just Kalvin. Teams change a lot and players for previous seasons who were incredibly important but this season less important. It’s how they perform, many things can happen.”