Man City agree deal to send Kalvin Phillips out on loan

West Ham United have agreed a loan deal with Manchester City for Kalvin Phillips, understands.

The 28-year-old has been on the fringes of City's team throughout his 18-month stint at the club, playing just 390 minutes of Premier League football across 16 appearances in the competition.

Phillips has featured more often in cup competition and in Europe, but the writing has been on the wall for the 2020/21 England men's player of the year since Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes arrived to bolster a midfield usually marshalled by the brilliant Rodri.

West Ham have now swooped to agree a loan deal for Phillips that runs until the end of the season, with the agreement seeing his wages covered by the Europa Conference League winners.

understands that the deal will also include an option to buy in the summer, where City will hope to recoup the majority of the £42m fee they paid to Leeds United in July 2022, and West Ham have seen off interest from the likes of Newcastle United and Juventus to get their man.

The Hammers sold captain Declan Rice to Arsenal last summer for British-record £105m fee and managed to secure the signings of Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Mohammed Kudus with that money — boosting David Moyes's squad with high-quality options.

Phillips will provide another outlet in central midfield, adding further quality while potentially freeing up Lucas Paqueta to continue playing in a wide role that he has excelled in over recent matches.

The arrival of Phillips, pending a successful medical, should give Moyes the opportunity to rotate his players ahead of a gruelling end to the season which sees West Ham do battle in the Europa League knockout stages. The Hammers cruised into the last 16 after topping a group