“I loved my time at Man City despite Pep weight comments – but it was draining and I had to get out-BREAKING NEWS- as Ex Manchester city player finally reveals what Pep Guardiola told him that made him leave the club angry😳😳

“I never expected to find myself here, but it just happened,” says a laid-back Kalvin Phillips, opening up for the first time about his departure from Manchester City this summer.

Speaking on his friend’s podcast, Phillips discussed his ambitions while on loan at Ipswich, following two challenging years at City marked by injuries, fitness issues, a loss of form, and a failed loan spell at West Ham. Phillips joined City from Leeds in 2022 for £42 million as a potential alternative to Rodri, but early-season injuries left him struggling to make England’s World Cup squad in December. Upon his return, Pep Guardiola made headlines when he dropped Phillips from the team, citing that the midfielder was overweight.

Phillips has since spoken about the fallout from Guardiola’s comments and the effect it had on him and his family, which even led to a public apology from the City manager last year. However, Phillips admits that the incident still affects him.

“You’ve probably heard about the time when Pep said I was overweight after the World Cup,” Phillips shared on the ‘My Mate’s a Footballer’ podcast with Patrick Bamford. “That narrative just kept growing on social media. Every club I spoke to, the manager and nutritionist would bring up my weight before anything else. It started to really frustrate me.”

Despite this, Phillips spoke highly of Guardiola and his meticulous game preparations, recalling how he was “gobsmacked” during one of his first team meetings when the manager predicted exactly how the next match would unfold. He added that Guardiola demands passes to be 100% perfect: “Otherwise, you lose the ball, which you can’t afford to do when you’re at City.”

Phillips’ loan to West Ham last season didn’t go as planned, and despite making four appearances for City during their summer tour, including two as a centre-back, he was always likely to leave on loan again, if not permanently. Ipswich ultimately secured his services, with manager Kieran McKenna winning Phillips over, and he’s now beginning to get the game time he craved.

Even if playing at Portman Road wasn’t what he had envisioned for this season.