Kalvin Phillips, the new Manchester City Midfielder scout report

Kalvin Phillips, the new Man City Midfielder scout report

On July 4th, after signing Erling Haaland, Manchester City signed Kalvin Phillips from Leeds United for around 49 million euros. Kalvin Phillips was called to play under Gareth Southgate before Leeds United was promoted to the Premier League.

He was given the nickname of 'Yorkshire Pirlo' by Leeds fans because of how similar is his play style to Andrea Pirlo. What does Kalvin Phillips actually add to the table? To answer this question, we will analyze the strength and weaknesses of Kalvin Phillips.

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Phillips Under Bielsa

Last season was not the best for Kalvin Philips and for Leeds United in general. Bielsa was gone and he was replaced by The American Jesse March who was the coach of RB Salzburg. Jesse March managed to barely keep Leeds in the Premier League on the last season day of the season. As for Kalvin Philips, Philips was out with a hamstring injury for a total of 99 days. This means that he played fewer matches only starting in 18 matches during the last premier league season.

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Phillips by the numbers

To make a fair analysis of Kalvin Phillips, we will look at his stats from the 20-21 season where Leeds managed to finish in the Top 10. As we can see from the scout report below, Kalvin Phillips is a decent player carrier and progressive passer of the ball. Phillips does not have a lot of attacking involvement as he plays the role of a defensive midfielder in Bielsa's 3-1-3-3 in attack and 4-1-4-1 in defense. So it makes sense for Assists, Shot and Goal creation numbers to be low. But, the area where Phillips excel is the defensive actions. Such as tackling and interceptions where he lies in the Top 4%. And successful pressures i.e applying pressure on an opposing player and getting the ball where he lies in the Top 2% in the Top 5 leagues.

Comparison with current Man City options

After Fernandinho left Man City for free, the only option to consider for this comparison would be Rodri who has been crucial for Man City's success. This radar graph plots metrics such as Tackles and Interceptions, Key Passes, and Successful Presses for both Phillips and Rodri so we can compare them. The stats are used from the 20/21 EPL season.

Rodri is better than Phillips when it comes to Tackles and Interceptions metric and Successful Presses metric. Overall, Rodri is a better ball carrier and passer than Phillips as Rodri is in the top 10% for Carriesper90 and the top 15% for Progressive Passes per90. The area where Phillips is better than Rodri is Key Passes per90 where Rodri is better than 60% of Premier League midfielders while Phillips is better than 80% of Premier League midfielders for 20-21 seasons.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, Kalvin Phillips' move to Man City is a win for both sides. After years of playing for Leeds, Kalvin Phillips will get some playtime due to Man City's congested fixtures. This playtime will help Kalvin maintain fitness and get ready for World Cup in Qatar. As for Man City, Man City gets a reliable second option for the defensive midfielder who is in the prime of his career. If not set back by injury Kalvin Phillips will be a gamechanger for Man City.