Kalvin Phillips breaks silence on Pep Guardiola's brutal Man City weight jibe

Kalvin Phillips says he "feels more alive" after his move to West Ham.

The 28-year-old England midfielderhad a challenging time at Manchester City, where he was labelled overweight by manager Pep Guardiola. Phillips joined Manchester City from Leeds in 2022 for £42million but only started six games before leaving in January.

Despite being part of a treble-winning squad and the Club World Cup victory, he rarely played. He's now opened up on his difficulties while at the Etihad, hinting the City boss could have handled the situation better.

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In an interview with The Observer, Phillips shared: "Over the last 18 months ... I still loved the game, it just changed my way of thinking a little bit. The game wasn't letting me down but the fact I had nothing to look forward to kind of pushed me away."

He added: "Now I'm here at West Ham and playing, I feel a lot more alive. It's not starting from scratch, it's starting afresh."

After the 2022 World Cup, Guardiola criticised Phillips for being overweight. Phillips acknowledged this but mentioned a misunderstanding about when he was supposed to report back contributed to the issue.

"After the World Cup was probably the toughest, when Pep came out and said I was overweight," Phillips said. "He was right to do so but there are different ways to go about it.

"I did not disagree with him but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. And my family were not happy about it, either. Especially my mum...

"It was just a misunderstanding and I think he was