(Credit Imago)

Toby Wilding

Tue 6 May 2025 18:00, UK

Leeds United are surely set to avoid bringing Kalvin Phillips back to Elland Road after setting out their lofty ambitions for the future.

After the heartbreak of play-off final defeat last season, this campaign has been a memorable one for all the right reasons for the Yorkshire outfit.

With Leeds having beaten Plymouth Argyle on the final day of this season, they have now been promoted back to the Premier League as Championship title winner.

Preparations will therefore already be being put into place, as the Whites aim to avoid becoming another newly promoted club to be immediately relegated back to the second-tier.

It has been suggested that Leeds could spend over £100million in the summer transfer window, as they attempt to put together a squad capable of competing in the Premier League.

Kalvin Phillips speculation has already emerged

One player whose future fans of the Elland Road club will be keen to know about this summer, is Kalvin Phillips.

Having come through their academy, the midfielder was an integral figure in Leeds‘ promotion to the Premier League back in 2020.

He was then equally important in helping what was then Marcelo Bielsa’s side take the top-flight by storm with a ninth place finish in the 2020/21 campaign.

That also saw him become a mainstay in the centre of midfield for England for a period, including in their run to the final of the European Championships in 2021.

He was then sold to Man City in the summer of 2022, but former scout Mick Brown has exclusively told Football Insider that Phillips is keen on a return to Leeds amid their promotion back to the top-flight.

Football Insider understands that City will need to reduce Phillips’ asking price if a move back to West Yorkshire was to be possible.

Even so, there is a strong argument that such a deal is one the Elland Road club should be avoiding this summer.

Leeds United aiming higher than Man City man

Speaking on Monday (5 May) at a parade to celebrate their promotion, the club’s chairman Paraag Marathe claimed he wants his side to become “one of the best in Europe” [The Guardian].

With that in mind a move to bring Phillips back to Leeds would surely not make sense in terms of matching those ambitions.

Although he may have got a move to Man City, the midfielder found it hard to establish himself at the Etihad, playing a bit-part role at best in his first season-and-a-half with Pep Guardiola’s side.

That was then followed by a loan move to West Ham in January 2024 for the second-half of last season, which again spectacularly failed to work out.

Phillips struggled for opportunities to get in the side, and when he did he was unable to find the form he had previously shown with Leeds.

It was therefore no surprise to see him loaned out again by Man City for this season, with newly promoted Ipswich his destination this time around.

Again though, things have not worked out for the midfielder at Portman Road, where he has made just 19 league appearances for a side set to immediately drop back out of the Premier League.

Indeed, of the 14 league games that the midfielder has started for Ipswich this season, Kieran McKenna’s side have won precisely 0.

So if Leeds are indeed to become one of the top teams in Europe as Marathe wants, they should surely be aiming higher than a player currently struggling for game time and influence in a relegated side.

It is also worth noting that Phillips will be 30-years-old come December, so long-term there may be concerns about whether he has the fitness to do what he used to at Elland Road.

With that in, what might have previously seemed like a dream reunion for all concerned, is one Leeds may now be better off staying clear from by letting down their former favourite son.