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'They always talk about weight'
Kalvin Phillips has opened up about his frustration at constant comments about his weight.
Phillips was labeled “overweight” by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after the 2022 World Cup and the midfielder described it as the “most difficult moment of his career.”
Guardiola apologized for the comment, but the now Ipswich loanee has revealed the domino effect those words had.
And he also went into detail about how it has been a constant problem since he was at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
“Bielsa is obsessed with body composition and weight,” Phillips explained on the 'My Mate's A Footballer' podcast.
“And I was at the top end of the team, if not the highest.
“We had an offseason where for three weeks I would go home and literally just have a protein shake for dinner.
“I just had to keep losing weight, losing weight. He was like that until the last week I was there. He was always pushing me to reach a certain weight goal.
“I obviously respected him, but I knew I couldn't starve or become dehydrated because I would eventually get injured or stop performing.
“Only recently, since I arrived at Ipswich, did I reach the goal that Biesla had set for me.
“The trainer here is also very important in body composition and I thought, 'I'm not having a bad start here, I need to make sure my weight is in the right spot.'”
“It's become a narrative for me,” Phillips continued.
“You obviously heard about the time Pep (Guardiola) came out and said he was overweight after the World Cup. That narrative on social media just grew and became something it wasn't.
“Every club I went to, the manager and the nutritionist, they always talked about weight before saying anything else. At one point it bothered me a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it.
“Now I've come to Ipswich and the manager is an incredible person as well as a manager. We talked about all the past things that happened in my career. He just said he wanted me to get to where I was when I was at Leeds.”
