Pep Guardiola apologises to Kalvin Phillips for ‘overweight’ jibe but disputes suggestion from player

Pep Guardiola has issued an apology to Kalvin Phillips for calling him 'overweight' last season.

However, the Manchester City boss insists he ran things by his player before telling the media.

Phillips is looking to rebuild his career on loan at West Ham amid a miserable year-and-a-half at Manchester City which has seen him struggle for game time and run the risk of missing out on a place in the England squad for Euro 2024.

The former Leeds star has since said that that jibe from Guardiola was the toughest moment of his City career.

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

“Pep was frustrated I didn’t come back into training early but it was just a miscommunication between the people at City and myself.

“Pep wanted me to come in the day after we finished the tournament and be involved in friendlies and stuff. I never got that information because if he asked me to be there, I would have.

“It was just a misunderstanding, he was very frustrated with me coming back 1.5kg over my target weight.

“It took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City. My family were not happy about it, either. Especially Mum.”

While Guardiola sent his apologies to Phillips, he insists he told the player before speaking to the media about his weight.

«I'm sorry, once in eight years is not bad. I apologise to him, I do. I'm sorry,» Guardiola said ahead of City's clash against Brentford on Tuesday night, live and exclusively on talkSPORT.

Guardiola emphasised that he had spoken to Phillips before making the public comment about his weight, saying: «I never, never before I said something here did not speak with the players