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Dan Bardell: 'Absolutely no need' for Kalvin Phillips to join Aston Villa
We’re delighted to welcome Sky Sports journalist Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
There is “absolutely no need” for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips to join Aston Villa this January, according to Dan Bardell.
As reported by 90min (16 October), the England international is being monitored by a number of Premier League clubs this winter, with the Villans joining Newcastle and Tottenham, while German giants Bayern Munich have made contact with the club.
His move from Leeds to the Etihad has not been a huge success. Phillips can boast just 26 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side since joining, many of these being from the bench. However, he remains a regular for Gareth Southgate and his quality is apparent, even if not displayed frequently.
Bardell does not see Phillips leaving Manchester this January but also claims that the 27-year-old doesn’t have a space in Unai Emery’s squad while Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz remain.
Speaking exclusively to Villa News, Bardell said: “I don’t see Kalvin Phillips moving at all until at least the summer. I don’t think Manchester City would let anyone go in January, although they did let Joao Cancelo go last winter.
“He’ll obviously need to go in the summer because even when Rodri isn’t playing, Phillips doesn’t get a game. It’s pretty clear and obvious that Guardiola doesn’t fancy him.
“Two years ago I would have absolutely loved him at Villa. He was the exact type of player that we needed. But if you look at it now, Tielemans isn’t getting games as first choice any time soon, it’s purely Kamara and Luiz.
“If Villa were to bring in another central midfield player than what they already have. On current form, Phillips isn’t as good. He doesn’t have the same skillset the others have. They can both receive the ball with their back to goal, they can both turn and are nimble. They do everything a midfield partnership should do.
“As long as those two and Tielemans are there, I’d say there’s absolutely no need for Phillips in the Villa squad because he doesn’t have the profile, which is an amazing thing to say. The main thing for him is that he doesn’t actually need to move to be selected for England because Southgate’s going to pick him anyway.”
In other Aston Villa news, Unai Emery has upset the Villa squad with a personnel decision.