Leeds news: Ex-manager raises fears Phillips may be out until August after Tuesday update
Kalvin Phillips would be taking a “huge risk” playing for England after suffering a shoulder injury for Leeds United, according to Alex McLeish.
The former Scotland boss, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested the midfielder could miss as much as three months out if the problem worsened.
Leeds confirmed they were confident the 25-year-old would recover from the shoulder injury in time for this summer’s Euros.
The midfielder suffered the blow in Sunday’s 3-1 win over West Brom.
Phillips was named in the 33-man provisional England squad on Tuesday afternoon.
McLeish insisted he knew all about the severity of shoulder injuries after losing Richard Dunne and Shay Given at Aston Villa.
As such, he suggested Phillips could be out until August if the injury worsened.
McLeish told Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge: “A potentially dislocated shoulder? That sounds a dodgy one.
“I know back in my team Aston Villa I lost Richard Dunne and Shay Given to shoulder injuries. They were out for 10-12 weeks and that was massive for the squad we had at the time. To get those two back towards the end of the season was a godsend.
“To lose them for those 12 weeks, there was a lot of consequences. It was difficult to win games and to be as fluent as a team as we normally would be.
“Losing somebody like Phillips, he’s been awesome this season. If he’s going to be ready for the Euros, wow, I would think that that’s a huge risk.”
Phillips sat out three games due to another shoulder injury between October and November.
He played 30 times in total for Leeds this season.
In other news, Leeds United working on multiple new contracts with talks to be finalised this week.