Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly joined the race to sign Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips this January.
Newcastle United are also said to be in for the player, who has fallen out of favour at the Etihad Stadium.
After a £45m move from Leeds United in 2022, Phillips has never established himself as a regular in the team's midfield under Pep Guardiola.
Phillips has only accrued 318 minutes of football this season - with 90 of those coming in an EFL Cup defeat to Newcastle, and another 90 in a Champions League dead-rubber against Red Star Belgrade.
That game in Serbia is where Phillips's solitary Man City goal came, when he scored a late penalty to help the side to a 3-2 win.
Guardiola has been very reluctant to use the 28-year-old in the league though, even as a substitute, as Phillips has not featured in the Premier League since the 6-1 win versus Bournemouth in early November, making a 20-minute cameo off the bench.
With Phillips looking more likely to leave, Football Insider claims that Spurs are interested in signing the player on loan this month.
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With Newcastle also interested, along with Serie A giants Juventus, the fact that Man City are said to be holding out for £5-6m loan fee, as well having all of Phillips's wages covered, is making clubs reluctant to make a move.
Spurs could be tempted into meeting City's demands though, as injury and the Africa Cup of Nations has decimated the Spurs midfield, as they are currently without James Maddison, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, while Rodrigo Bentancur has also had injury issues this season.
The opportunity of being guaranteed more minutes ahead of the European Championship in the summer could be enticing to Phillips, who has slipped down the pecking order in Gareth Southgate's plans.
While Phillips remains a regular in the squad, his game time with the Three Lions has suffered following his move to Man City.
After playing all seven matches at Euro 2020, Phillips did not start a single game at the Qatar World Cup, just a few months after his move to the Etihad.
Southgate showed huge faith in Phillips by handing him a start in the Euro 2024 qualifier at home to Italy in October, but he played only seven minutes in the subsequent November matches against Malta and North Macedonia, after qualification had already been secured.
Spurs have already made two signings this month, after Radu Dragusin arrived from Genoa and Timo Werner was signed from RB Leipzig, and they could make his debut when Ange Postecoglou's side face Manchester United on Sunday.
Andrew Delaney
