Manchester City flop Kalvin Phillips is on Barcelona’s list of options for this month, but West Ham United are ‘putting a lot of pressure on’ to secure his signature ahead of them.
That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who say Barcelona have been stopped from moving definitively by Financial Fair Play rules.
The newspaper explains that Barcelona sporting director Deco likes Phillips and would like to see him at the club before the end of the window but accepts a deal is hard to get done for the Manchester City midfielder.
On one hand their chances are boosted by the fact Phillips wants to leave Manchester City and the club, alongside Pep Guardiola, have committed to letting him go so he can get minutes to compete for a spot in England’s team for Euro 2024.
They already did that last summer with Joao Cancelo’s move to the Camp Nou so whether they would repeat it is debatable.
There is also increasing competition for the midfielder too, with West Ham emerging as late contenders and pushing ‘in recent hours’ to get him to London instead.
That doesn’t suit Barcelona as ‘they know Phillips is in a rush to get a deal done and get back to playing as soon as possible so he can accumulate minutes and get fit before the summer.
Thus, accepting West Ham’s proposal may suit him as they seem ready to pay and sign on the dotted line, something Barcelona are not at this moment in time.
Thus, it may be advantage West Ham, with their interest and sudden efforts known about in Spain and even, perhaps, causing a little bit of frustration.
