How Manchester City signed Kalvin Phillips for £42m – almost the perfect transfer
How did Manchester City manage to sign Kalvin Phillips, a highly-rated England international, for just £42 million, plus another three in add-ons? It was nearly the perfect City transfer — “nearly” because, these days, they often look for players with buy-out clauses and for a while had intended to trigger the one in Phillips’ contract. Had Leeds been relegated last season, as had looked a distinct possibility in its final weeks, the 26-year-old would have been available in this window for £24 million. Leeds stayed up on the final day to complicate matters slightly, but not by much. With the clause out of the way, Leeds could, in theory, have charged whatever they had wanted for Phillips, one of their star players and a homegrown hero. But champions City were still in the kind of position they strive to be in with every summer transfer. They had known since the end of May that Phillips wanted to join them and nobody else. Manchester United had explored the possibility earlier in the year, but it was a non-starter, largely because of the politics involved in a Leeds favourite moving to Old Trafford, historically a very difficult path to tread. In January, Aston Villa and West Ham made enquiries to Leeds about the midfielder. The impression in the Elland Road boardroom was that third parties had been touting him around but Phillips was not interested in either move — he was reluctant to leave his boyhood club in the middle of a relegation battle and had set his sights on a move to a team who could offer him Champions League football. By the middle of June, there were rumours Paris Saint-Germain were showing an interest, but The Athletic understands this to be false. So City had a free run and, crucially, Phillips was determined to join them — to the extent that if Leeds stood in his way, he would force the issue. Another key factor in the move is that Phillips recently changed agents. Around a fortnight before news of the agreement between Leeds and City emerged, the 26-year-old’s contract with Palm Sports Management expired, and he swiftly joined Stellar, specifically David Manasseh. City had had little, possibly zero, contact with Phillips’ former agent, Kevin Sharp, but have a good relationship with Stellar, the firm which represents his now club and country team-mate Jack Grealish. When Villa dug their heels in last summer, refusing to accept City’s £100 million bid despite it triggering the buy-out clause in Grealish’s contract, Stellar used its expertise to resolve the situation. Compared to how that move panned out, with Villa putting in calls to Manchester United and Real Madrid to try to scupper City’s deal, this one for Phillips has been a walk in the park. Leeds had been expecting a bid from City for weeks, and all involved — even agents working on other deals at different clubs — had the feeling that it would come in somewhere between £40 million and £50 million. Stellar had been indicating to Leeds that if City were going to make a concrete offer, it made sense to get the deal done before Phillips was due to report back for pre-season training next Monday, July 4 — and certainly before they flew out on tour to Australia a week later. On the weekend of June 17-18, Phillips was in Ibiza for Leeds captain Liam Cooper’s wedding, at the same time as the club’s chairman Andrea Radrizzani and Manasseh were on the island. Phillips and Radrizzani discussed the 23-cap England international’s future and the likelihood of a move to the Etihad. So Leeds knew that Phillips was desperately keen to go to City and work with Pep Guardiola, and that Stellar was well equipped to push things through. An extension to his contract was mooted throughout last season but talks on one never really got off the ground, perhaps complicated by the impending change of agency. And so with two years left on his deal, knowing that his value would only decrease and in the knowledge that he only had eyes for City, an agreement was reached relatively quickly. It is understood that Phillips’ deal at the Etihad is worth around £60m across a six-year contract. There is a feeling at Leeds that although selling Phillips may conceivably have pulled in more money than they’re getting, the fee is not a bad one either. City, meanwhile, have spent around £20 million more than they initially hoped, but are still pleased with this bit of business. They had been concerned before the end of the season that had Leeds gone down, other clubs may suddenly show an interest and drive up the price anyway.
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