Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has warned Manchester United they could live to regret not signing Leeds United midfield enforcer Kalvin Phillips this summer.
The Leeds-born midfielder, who will have aspirations of representing England at the World Cup later this year, is on the cusp of joining Manchester City. The reining Premier League champions agreed a £45million fee with Leeds on Friday, with £42million of that deal being paid up front.
City chief Pep Guardiola quickly identified Phillips as being his top target to strengthen City’s defensive-midfield options this summer following the departure of Fernandinho. He has gone from strength-to-strength since helping Leeds win promotion to the Premier League two years ago.
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United, as revealed by the Manchester Evening News back in April, were understood to be working on a deal to try and bring Phillips to Old Trafford. However, they stood next to no chance once City entered the race for his signature.
And for former Republic of Ireland international Cascarino, United’s failure to sign Phillips will have left them kicking themselves. The club is crying out for a defensive-minded midfielder this summer and appear no closer to sourcing one.
“I don’t know why Man United have not made a move for Kalvin Phillips,” Cascarino told talkSPORT. “They might say that they tried to and he’d already decided that he was going to City, but he’s exactly what Man United need.
“He might not have wanted to go there, that might be the reason, but there seemingly wasn’t any competition from a club who sorely need that type of player. It’s a huge miss in their team, a ball-winning player who can keep it and let other players do their thing and he does that as well as anybody.”
United, despite positioning Frenkie de Jong and Christian Eriksen at the top of their midfield wish list, still need to add a defensive-minded midfielder to their ranks. United are set to miss out on Phillips and Yves Bissouma has joined Tottenham Hotspur.
Cascarino added: “We’ve seen Bissouma go to Tottenham for a relatively low fee at £20-25million. Okay, he had a year left on his contract so it’s a different circumstance but players without great numbers in terms of goals and assists, their fees aren’t quite as big.
“The only one is Declan Rice. Rice doesn’t have great stats in goals and assists, but everyone can watch him and see his disruption of teams and how he affects their performance. I think that Kalvin Phillips does that, but he’s gone to a side who had the best holding midfield player in the country in Rodri, who was above Declan Rice.”
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