Kalvin Phillips has been given a new role at Manchester City and fans believe it could save his career
Kalvin Phillips was deployed in a new position for Manchester City and fans were pleasantly surprised with his performance.
The England international has struggled to make an impact at the Etihad Stadium since joining from Leeds for £45million in 2022.
The midfielder played a key role in helping Leeds gain promotion to the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa and was rewarded with a starting place in England's run to the Euro 2020 final.
Phillips has not been able to replicate the same performances under Pep Guardiola which led to an unsuccessful loan spell at West Ham last season.
The 28-year-old has made just 31 appearances for City in two years at the club and has fallen down the pecking order under Guardiola.
Phillips has returned to pre-season training with City and travelled to the United States as part of the club's pre-season tour.
With his Manchester City uncertain future, Phillips lined up for Tuesday's warm-up game against Barcelona in the unknown position of central defender.
Although some fans may have seen it as a risk to deploy a player lacking confidence in that position, Phillips responded with an admirable display, leaving fans in shock.
Phillips formed a central defensive partnership with Josko Gvardiol in the clash that ended 2-2 but saw the La Liga side claim a penalty shoot-out victory.
And his performance had fans believing that a permanent switch to centre-back could be a career-saving decision for him at City.
One fan wrote: “Player of the match today against Barça.”
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Another added: “He is much better as a centre-back than as a defensive midfielder.”
A third fan posted: “I’m proud of him, he did well. We’re coming back.”
Another wrote: “Pep found a role for himself.”
A final fan added: “Pep might be right.”
The statistics also backed up Phillips' improvement with a 93 percent passing accuracy, the highest of any player.
He made 18 passes into the final third, ten accurate long balls, four recoveries, three interceptions, two clearances and two chances created.
Despite a rare moment of positivity surrounding Phillips, Alan Pardew has urged the star to seek a move away from Manchester City to “find himself again”.
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“He won't be in the Manchester City team, putting him at centre-back isn't an insult but it's a bit like 'you're giving him a game because they're short-handed there',” the former Newcastle boss told talkSPORT.
“He needs to move on and the loan deal didn’t work out. The West Ham deal was very bad for him and the club. Whatever happens, I think he needs a new home.”
“Whenever I saw him, I thought he was a very competent footballer.
“But it seems that there is a decline, either in his mental capacity, something has happened in his mind, because physically he has no problems. He just needs to find himself again.”
