Everton have reignited their interest in Kalvin Phillips this summer.
The Toffees missed out on the England international in the January transfer window, before he went onto have a rather unforgettable loan spell at West Ham.
Phillips’ disastrous stint in the English capital hasn’t put Everton off though, and they now look to be in pole position to bring the midfielder in on loan from Manchester City.
It is believed that the Premier League champions would prefer to sell Phillips as they look to shift him off the wage bill, while Everton would consider a loan with the option to buy next summer.
Their interest in Phillips has very much been dragged out this summer, but Sean Dyche should really be keeping one eye on his performances in preseason and consider speeding up the process before Pep Guardiola changes his mind.
The 28-year-old’s time at the Etihad Stadium looked very much over until Guardiola threw a curveball and opted to start him at centre-back in their previous two games.
Phillips had struggled to impress in the middle of the park against Celtic and AC Milan, but has looked a completely different player in their meetings with Barcelona and Chelsea.
Phillips is catching the eye at centre-back
Social media has been flooded with praise for the former Leeds United man, while Manchester Evening News‘ player ratings have reflected his displays.
Against Barcelona, the MEN wrote: “Let’s be fair – he was calm under pressure, kept position well and almost scored at the other end.”
Days later, they claimed he put on a ‘solid performance’ and that he could have ‘done enough to stake a claim for a position-change’ if it wasn’t for Man City’s current crop of defenders.
Even Guardiola has singled him out, admitting he had been ‘really good’ and was ‘really pleased’ with him.
Could Man City reconsider offloading Phillips?
It is very likely that the Spaniard will take Phillips’ recent performances with a pinch of salt and will still offload him, but if Everton aren’t to wrap up a deal sharpish then it may well dent their chances of signing him.
City do have a number of options at centre-back, but if the Toffees refuse to agree a permanent deal for Phillips then they could now be more open to keeping him on the books until January.
It will only make matters worse if he picks up some minutes in defence once the Premier League campaign has kicked off, as City could eventually be persuaded to keep him, while it will give other clubs an opportunity to eye him up.
Phillips’ success at centre-back should only give Everton more incentive to snap him up, as their lack of options in that position means they could well look to sign a defender anyway.
Dyche’s side need to sort a deal for Phillips as soon as possible as it is certainly not one they want to drag out until deadline day.
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