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Calvin Phillips is being compared to Dele Alli.

"Kalvin Phillips has lost all faith in himself since joining Manchester City, going through a similar downfall to Dele Alli."

Phillips joined Leeds United Academy in 2010 at the age of 14, captaining the club as a youth, and made his professional debut in April 2015 at the age of 19.

Phillips, who has already been Leeds' main player at the age of 20, was the mainstay of Leeds' promotion to the Premier League under Bielsa and was named the EFL Championship PFA Team of the Year in the 2019/20 season, becoming the best midfielder.

Phillips made his debut for Leeds in a UEFA Nations League match against Denmark in September 2020. The following summer, despite England's penalty shootout defeat to Italy in the final, Phillips' presence at Euro 2020 remained.

Pep Guardiola signed Phillips in July 2022. Phillips had played 31 games for Manchester City for 18 months, trying to compete for a starting position but was rendered useless by the failure of his weight management and continued deterioration of form due to injury.

Phillips made just four appearances for Manchester City this season before eventually moving on to West Ham United on a loan deal in January. Phillips made his debut for West Ham as a starter against Bournemouth, but he was at his worst from the start.

As he failed to secure the starting position at West Ham, he played in only 12 matches in the league. Eleven matches are not played full time, and only two matches were played for more than 60 minutes. After failing at West Ham, Phillips is now back in Manchester City.

Phillips is being compared to Dele Alli, who was once considered one of Tottenham's most promising midfielders but was sidelined all season at Everton due to injury and has been reduced to an unknown player.

Saunders, a former Liverpool and Everton player, said, "We saw that happen to Dele Alli. Dele Alli became disillusioned and suddenly what happened to him? Calvin Phillips, looking at him, I definitely felt like I had lost both faith and confidence."

He continued, "If you lose confidence and play without scoring for eight games, you can't even control your ball. If it's an effort and your conviction disappears, you start to think that you are a bad player and that's what happened to him."

It is not yet known whether Phillips will be able to perform better for Manchester City this season, but it is still unclear where his destination will be as Manchester City are expected to trade him in this transfer window.