Kalvin Phillips agent talks underway at Man City amid £6m West Ham United transfer news
The agents of West Ham target Kalvin Phillips are negotiating with Manchester City over the £6million loan fee they are holding out for, according to Ed Aarons.
The Guardian journalist posted on his personal Twitter page on Tuesday (16 January) that West Ham, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United are all interested in Phillips
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However, none of those Premier League sides are willing to pay the sum City are asking for to take on the England international for the next four months.
Understand that Kalvin Phillips’ agents are negotiating with Manchester City over the size of the loan fee for the England midfielder. Several clubs including Crystal Palace, Newcastle and West Ham are interested but unwilling to pay £6m wanted by City
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) January 16, 2024
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Aarons wrote: “Understand that Kalvin Phillips’ agents are negotiating with Manchester City over the size of the loan fee for the England midfielder.
“Several clubs including Crystal Palace, Newcastle and West Ham are interested but unwilling to pay £6m wanted by City.”
Forget it
Philipps would undoubtedly enhance each of those teams mentioned, and it could indeed be argued that he would improve any Premier League side outside of City, who clearly do not fancy him.
However, a line has to be drawn in the sand at some point, and £6m is clearly far too much to pay for a half-season loan deal. After all, there are players on the market who could come in permanently and do a half-decent job for that price.
West Ham are not exactly crying out for another central midfielder anyway, as Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek have linked up well this campaign.
As for Philipps, his career has fallen off a cliff since earning himself a move from Leeds United to Man City in July 2022. The 28-year-old has started just two Premier League games over the past two seasons.
If West Ham were in desperate need of a central midfielder, this might have been worth considering. But the club are right to walk away from the deal unless City reduce that loan fee considerably.
In other West Ham news, the Irons are reportedly leading the race for
“one of the very best” around.
