One Premier League star who has played for both Manchester City and Leeds is unlikely to have mixed feelings on Saturday’s showdown
Former Manchester City and Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips will be nowhere in sight when the two clubs face off on Saturday. That’s after the Yorkshireman’s £42million transfer to City from Elland Road back in 2022 ultimately ended with a distressed phone call to his old boss.
Having built himself as a key part of Marcelo Bielsa’s iconic Leeds team, Phillips was eventually snapped up by Pep Guardiola. However, what promised to be the next phase in an endearing tale of hard work paying off petered into a period of utter stagnation.
Phillips, 30, has made just 32 first-team appearances for City as he approaches the fourth anniversary of his move to the Etihad. He’s won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and more as a City player, yet all that glitters isn’t gold.
Now on loan at Championship side Sheffield United, his third loan away in as many seasons, Phillips is attempting to resurrect the old him once more. And it was a similar sense of desperation that led him to reach out to Bielsa in April 2023 after he was found at fault for Leicester City’s only goal during a 3-1 City win.
Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings
“I just felt s***,” said Phillips. “It was probably the low-point, confidence-wise. I spoke to Bielsa afterwards. He called me back via a translator and we had a conversation for around half an hour.
“He said he’d watched every game I’d been involved in since I moved from Leeds and he told me what he thought I should do to become the player I was at Leeds.”
Linking up with Guardiola in Manchester inevitably came with its own complications. But then Phillips had just come from a club where he thrived under Bielsa, revered as a tactical taskmaster and one who demands painstaking sacrifice in training; how bad could it be?
One particularly tough episode related to Guardiola publicly calling Phillips out for returning “overweight” after the 2022 World Cup. The England anchor later empathised with the sentiment and conceded the Catalan was likely right, though his execution left a lot to be desired.
FOLLOW OUR MAN CITY FB PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester City Facebook page
“He was right to do so, but there are different ways to go about it,” Phillips later told The Guardian. “I did not disagree with him, but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. And my family were not happy about it, either. Especially my mum.”
From Phillips’ perspective, he had gone from being the local hero at Leeds and the most valuable player in the squad, as his City fee would attest. Under Guardiola, however, it wasn’t long before he became just another piece of the furniture, and one that was hardly critical to his manager’s plans.
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky shows at least 215 live Premier League games each season, an increase of up to 100, plus Formula 1, darts, golf and more.
Saturday’s Premier League clash takes place at Phillips’ former stomping ground at Elland Road. Daniel Farke’s men have made a habit in surprising some of the Premier League elite, having already taken results off the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United in recent months.
They’ll hope to repeat those heroics against the current runners-up if they’re to boost their own bid against relegation. Despite technically still being a City player today, Phillips will not be on the pitch as former club Leeds continue in trying to secure their top-flight future.
