KALVIN PHILLIPS will give up a multi-million pound pay-off if he cuts his ties with Manchester City in January.
Phillips, 27, has finally accepted that his only chance of regular football will be a move away from the Etihad, with his place in Gareth Southgate’s Euro plans also at risk.
Several clubs were interested in the summer, but the midfielder insisted he wanted to stay and fight for his place at City.
Yet he is no nearer forcing his way in, and knows playing cameo roles for the rest of the season is likely to affect his England hopes.
Newcastle, West Ham and Bayern Munich are all keen.
And if City recoup close to the £42 million he cost from Leeds two seasons ago, a deal could be done.
They would also listen to loan offers – if the successful club covers his wages and gives a commitment to buy next summer.
Phillips still has four-and-a-half years left on his £150,000-a-week contract, and City were resigned to paying a huge chunk of that to smooth an exit path.
Yet City insiders claim the player is ready to accept around half that figure to get his career moving in the right direction again.
Etihad chief Pep Guardiola has accepted failing to get the best out of Philips since his arrival in 2022.
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And the player himself told Channel 4 during the international break: “I want minutes and I want to go to Euro 2024 and we’ll see what happens.
“As a football player, you always want to be playing, and that’s the case with me.
“I want to be playing as much as possible and obviously I haven’t done that over the last year and a half, so that’s one thing I want to do.”
