Arsenal legend Ian Wright says star was right to leave Leeds United despite Man City nightmare

Ian Wright says Kalvin Phillips is a ‘great player who will be back,’ and was right to join Manchester City despite his nightmare spell at the club.

The former Leeds United star has endured a tough couple of seasons since leaving Elland Road in 2022, failing to break into the Man City first team and then seeing a loan move to West Ham turn sour this season. His drop in form meant he was left out of Gareth Southgate's England squad for this summer's European Championships in Germany.

It's a far cry from the last Euros in 2021, when Phillips - then a Leeds United player - broke into the England side and helped to guide them through to the final of the tournament, only losing to Italy on penalties. His future at Man City under Pep Guardiola is in serious doubt after he was allowed to leave on loan to West Ham in January, but that moved failed to spark any upturn in form.

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There had been talk of move back to Leeds, but with Daniel Farke's side missing out on a place in the Premier League after losing to Southampton in the Championship play-off final, that now looks unlikely. Arsenal legend Wright remains a big fan of the midfielder, however, and feels he will kickstart his career again soon.

“Sometimes you make the move, and it feels like the great move at the time, and people don’t understand," Wright told the Chris Moyles Show. "Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. That didn’t work out for whatever reason, but he’s a great player and he will be back.”

When asked whether Phillips was right to move to Man City, Wright added: "Absolutely. You’re talking about going to Guardiola’s Manchester City, who are arguably the best team in the world. And he’s going there. Unfortunately, like you said, it didn’t work out for him. But that happens. He’s just got to go again.”

Leeds fan Moyles couldn't resist a cheeky plea for the former England midfielder to come back to Elland Road to get his career backing on track, sayng: “Get him in the Championship back for a season in Leeds, help us get promoted and boom, job's a good’un again.”

Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and on Global Player