Kalvin Phillips’ acquisition by Manchester City has been officially announced by Leeds. The six-year deal for the England midfielder’s transfers cost £42 million plus add-ons.
Philipps, who has played his whole career for Leeds, is essentially Fernandinho’s replacement when he departed the club after nine years, to join Athletico Paranaense and return to his native Brazil.
After the goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and the attacker Erling Haaland, Phillips is City’s third summer purchase.
The next player Pep Guardiola is eager to sign is left-back Marc Cucurella from Brighton. Julián Lvarez, a 22-year-old attacker who signed with the team in January but is still on loan at River Plate, has also joined the group.
Phillips described his move as a “dream come true” and told City’s website: “To be able to play under Pep and learn from him and his coaching staff as well as be part of such a fantastic squad is a prospect that I am incredibly excited about.”
In order to replace Phillips, Leeds is planning an opening offer for the US international Tyler Adams. The RB Leipzig star is greatly admired by Jesse Marsch, who last year served as his manager at the German club. A €15 million (£13million) offer is believed to be enough to sign the 23-year-old.
In a farewell social media message, Phillips, who will wear City’s No. 4 shirt, expressed thanks to the Leeds fans, “I hope you guys understand my decision and will accept that I only want to chase my dreams and test myself against and with the best teams and best players on the planet. As a young kid I had so many dreams and still do… but playing for you was the one I will never forget. You are the best fans in the world.”
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has announced his desire to quit Manchester United. In order to play in the Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo has informed Manchester United that he wants to depart because he doesn’t think the team can win the Premier League the next season.
At the beginning of Erik ten Hag’s tenure as manager, Ronaldo had wanted to see more desire from United, and he is disappointed that the team has still not completed a signing. With their efforts in the coming days and weeks on the transfer market, United still hopes to persuade the 37-year-old to stay.
No deal has been made for Ronaldo to join another team. Although there are no ongoing advanced negotiations, the Portugal international’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has been looking at options for weeks, speaking to teams like Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
Ronaldo, who returned to Old Trafford from Juventus and scored 24 goals for United last season, has a contract through the end of the following season with an additional year’s option.
Ronaldo’s departure would be devastating for United, not only because he led the team in goals scored last season with 14, with Bruno Fernandes coming in second, but also because this incident is the most recent evidence of their deterioration.
Since joining United in 2003, Ronaldo has participated in the Champions League every season, winning it five times, the most recent of which was in 2018. Next year, United will play in the Europa League
