Kalvin Phillips The Right Fit For West Ham’s Midfield?

Welcome back to Rating the Rumour, which does exactly what it says on the tin. We’ll be taking the biggest transfer rumours related to Premier League teams and rating the likelihood of the moves coming to fruition.

The final rating will be decided based on the potential fit of the player into the rumoured buying club, the need for that club to sign a player for the position played, whether the player is of the level required by the club, whether the club could afford the rumoured price and whether or not the player is even likely to be available for transfer.

We will not factor in the reliability of the rumour, as it would likely cause mass amounts of crying from outlets, journalists and “journalists” who would have to be denounced as spoofers.

With the ground rules laid out, let’s look at Kalvin Phillips to West Ham, which has been reported by Simon Stone of the BBC.

Fit

West Ham are an interesting team from a tactical point of view. Because of where they sit in the league table, they will be the better team against the majority of Premier League clubs and will be asked to dominate the ball.

At the same time, they will have to cede possession against the elite teams and thus need to be able to play as both a possession team and a counter attacking team.

It’s difficult to find players that can do both, but David Moyes has managed to build a team that are moving towards being very strong in both aspects and Phillips would fit into that well. He is very capable on the ball, while also excelling from a defensive point of view with his ability to shield and protect his defense.

With his long passing being one of his best attributes he would add a new weapon to this West Ham team with his ability to ping passes behind the defence for the likes of Jarod Bown and Mohammed Kudus to sprint on to.

Fit Rating – 2/2

Need

The signing of Alvarez from Ajax seemed to be West Ham’s response to their summer pursuit of Phillips ending in failure so on paper, the defensive midfield position has been filled. With Thomas Soucek also capable of playing that role, there isn’t an obvious need in the middle of the park for West Ham.

You can never have too many good players though, and Phillips is undoubtedly a better player than both Alvarez and Soucek. Perhaps David Moyes would wind the clock back on Phillips and restore him to the box to box role he excelled in before Marcelo Bielsa converted him into a defensive midfielder.

Need Rating – 1/2

Level

The 18 months he has spent at Manchester City might have tarnished how people view Phillips, but there’s absolutely no doubting his talent. At his best he is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, capable of going to toe to toe with just about any other midfield player in the league.

City was a bad fit for him, with the presence of Rodri relegating him to a reserve role before he’d even had a training session at his new club. Outside of City, there’s very few clubs in the league where Phillips wouldn’t be a first choice player. Tottenham and Aston Villa might be the only two.

Level Rating – 2/2

Affordability

During the summer, when Phillips was being linked with moves away, it was reported that City were looking for a fee in the region of £40mil for Phillips. For a then 27 year old England regular that was a reasonable fee, especially when you consider that City had paid £45mil to sign him from Leeds.

With it becoming more and more clear that there is no place for him at City, and that the manager is now actively looking to move him on to a new club, it would seem likely that the asking price has dropped.

A fee in the region of £30-35mil should be more than enough to secure Phillips at this point and that should land well within West Ham’s capabilities, given much of their summer spend was covered by the sale of Declan Rice.

Affordability Rating – 2/2

For Sale?

Pep Guardiola has made it very clear that he doesn’t have room for Phillips in his plans. While last season was disrupted by injuries, Phillips has been available every week for City this season and yet has only played a total of 89 minutes in the Premier League across four appearances.

That could be excused if he was a regular in the Champions League games, or the domestic cup games, but he has amassed on 319 minutes and two starts in all competitions, with one of the starts coming in a meaningless Champions League game against Red Star Belgrade, after City had already qualified for the knock-out rounds.

Availability Rating – 2/2

Final Rating

Overall this rumour rates out as a 9/10. It’s a deal that makes sense for both side and given West Ham tried to sign the England midfield in the summer, it appears there is a good chance for this one to happen.