Everton should learn from £25m mistake and not sign ‘immense’ player in January

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Everton have been linked with a move for out of favour Manchester City star Kalvin Phillips in recent days.

The 26-year-old joined City last year having impressed at Leeds United, but has barely played amidst a host of injury problems, and when he has played, he has often disappointed.

As a defensive midfielder, he was brought in to replace Fernandinho as the main cover for Spain international Rodri. It sums up how little faith Pep Guardiola has in the England international, that he started just one of three games during Rodri’s suspension, and City lost all three matches.

Everton are one of a number of clubs who have been linked with a January move for Phillips, but they may be better off prioritising other deals ahead of him.

Everton should avoid Phillips gamble

Phillips has a lot of quality which he showed during his time at Leeds, and was described as “immense” by England teammate Marcus Rashford. However, he is completely out of form, lacking in fitness and has a terrible injury record.

Everton should look at a deal they completed in 2019 as a reason to not sign Phillips. In 2019, midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin joined for a fee of £25m from FC Mainz, and came with a good reputation but a terrible injury record.

Everton chose to ignore his past injury record at the time, and this fully came back to bite, with Gbamin spending the next few years constantly injured before having his contract terminated this summer after just eight appearances.

Given that Phillips is wanted by a number of clubs and is on a high wage, even a loan deal would come at a huge financial cost, and his injury record has been awful even before to his move to City.

The risk of Phillips arriving at a huge financial cost, and being unable to stay fit, is too high for Everton, and it is a deal that they should perhaps avoid for now to avoid repeating the mistake made with Gbamin.