Kalvin Phillips

Kavlin Phillips is a player that might be selected for the Euros, but we think he absolutely should not be. Kalvin Phillips has played fairly regularly for the English team, accumulating 31 appearances across previous Euros and World Cup tournaments. He typically performs well for England, serving as a traditional holding midfielder with above average tackling and intercepting abilities. It appears that Southgate thinks highly of him, which is why we think he keeps getting selected, much to the chagrin of many English fans. The reason Kalvin Phillips should not go to the 2024 Euros is that he simply does not play enough club football during the season to justify being picked. He first caught the eye of the English team when he was playing for Leeds United, where he was averaging about 25 Premier League games per season. However, he transferred to Manchester City in 2022 and immediately fell out of favor with Pep Guardiola. He found it increasingly difficult to get any game time at Manchester City and only played 12 games during his first season with the club. The 2023/2024 season has been even worse for Phillips, as he only played 4 games for City before being loaned out to West Ham United. At West Ham, he has only made 7 appearances so far. Despite only playing about 20 Premier League games since 2022, Southgate still selected Phillips to play in four Euro 2024 qualifying matches. We know that Southgate likes to choose players he is familiar with, but we think Phillips’ inability to secure regular playing time at his clubs means he does not deserve to play for England. Instead, the holding midfielder position should go to someone like Declan Rice, who plays every week for one of the Premier League’s top teams.