Kalvin Phillips has admitted that he is still "peed off" with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola labelling him as 'overweight' during his time at the Etihad Stadium.
The 28-year-old endured a difficult 18-month spell with the Citizens and struggled for regular first-team football under Guardiola, starting just six of his 31 appearances across all competitions.
Less than six months after completing his £42m transfer from Leeds United to Man City, Phillips represented England at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Guardiola revealed after the tournament that the midfielder returned to the club "overweight".
Phillips admitted the following summer that Guardiola's comments were "a little hard to take" and insisted that he "wasn't overweight" despite the manager's perception.
The Yorkshireman was ultimately deemed surplus to requirements at Man City and spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham United, where he struggled to rediscover his best form.
Phillips has since joined newly-promoted Ipswich Town on a season-long loan deal and the midfielder intends to play regularly at Portman Road in order to reignite his career.
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Phillips opens up on weight management
Phillips has opened up on how his weight was something he regularly worked on at boyhood club Leeds under former head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Speaking on the BBC podcast 'My Mate's A Footballer' to former Leeds teammate Patrick Bamford about his experience at Elland Road, Phillips said: "When we first came in, Bielsa - being South American - was obsessed with body composition, weights and body fats. I was on the higher end of the team, if not the highest.
"I had a pre-season where, for about three weeks, I'd go home and I'd just have a protein shake for my dinner and then come in the next day and I just have to keep losing weight.
"He always pushed me to be on a certain weight tag. Obviously I respected it, but then I knew that I can't starve myself or I can't dehydrate myself because eventually I'm going to get injured or stop performing."
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Phillips frustrated by "narrative" around his weight
Phillips has since praised Kieran McKenna for his management during his time at Ipswich and has admitted that the "narrative" around his weight has become a personal frustration, with the topic being the first subject raised by interested clubs prior to joining the Tractor Boys.
"That [overweight] narrative on social media just kind of grew and grew. Every club that I'd go to, I spoke to the manager and the nutritionist, and they'd always speak about weight before they'd say anything else," the midfielder added.
"It got to the point where it peed me off a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it, but now I've come to Ipswich, [McKenna] is an unbelievable person as well as a manager.
"We spoke about all the past stuff that happened in my career. He just said, 'I'm big on body composition and I just want you to get to where you were when you left Leeds. That'll give us a good starting point for you to push on and hopefully get to back, back to where you were.'"
In February of this year, Guardiola issued a public apology to Phillips for his comments, saying: "Yeah, I'm sorry. Once in eight years is not bad. But I'm so sorry. I apologise to him. I do apologise. I'm so sorry."
Phillips has started three of Ipswich's last four Premier League games and is hoping to retain his place in the first XI when the Tractor Boys face his former club West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Oliver Thomas
