Kalvin Phillips departed Man City for West Ham during the January transfer window and the midfielder has detailed one reason why Pep Guardiola was “frustrated” with him at the Premier League champions.
The England star moved to the Manchester club from Leeds during the 2022 summer transfer window but his time at the Etihad was a disaster.
Phillips got very little game time and as a result, he needed to leave in January to save his chances of going to the European Championship with England this summer.
The Hammers star has now named one reason why Guardiola was “frustrated” with him and it relates to the 2022 World Cup, a tournament the midfielder returned late back from, according to the Man City boss.
“Pep was frustrated that I didn’t come back into training early after the World Cup, of course — but it was miscommunication between the people that worked at City and myself,” Phillips told the Mirror via Fabrizio Romano.
“I got told to be back on a certain date and I was always going to go back earlier than that date anyway because I hadn’t played that much for England during the tournament.
“I’d just recovered from my shoulder injury so Pep wanted me to come in the day after we finished the tournament so I could be involved in the friendlies.
“I never got that information because if he asked me to have been there… I would have been there.”