West Ham United appear to be closing in on the signing of Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City but Barcelona are ‘not throwing in the towel’ just yet.
That’s according to Sport, who say the midfielder is ‘one step away’ from the London Stadium after deciding not to wait any longer to secure a move this month.
They explain that Barcelona had been keen on a potential deal for Phillips, who Manchester City are happy to let go out on loan until the end of the season.
The midfielder welcomed the idea of a move to Camp Nou and Barcelona reciprocated the interest but they never presented a formal offer as they were waiting for money from one of their financial ‘levers’ so they had room to move in the market.
That led Phillips to look elsewhere, refusing to wait until the end of the market to seal his move away from Manchester City after waiting months to get it.
That’s opened the door for West Ham, who have made a definitive move and are willing to pay a loan fee to Manchester City to get the midfielder.
That deal is now progressing and while Barcelona are ‘not throwing in the towel’ both the coaching staff and the sports management already see the deal, and indeed any others, as very difficult to pull off.
They simply don’t have the money available.
Thus Phillips is on his way to West Ham, with Mundo Deportivo adding he’s already accepted their conditions and the deal is in the final stretch. In fact they think it could be done ‘in the next few hours’.
Now it should be noted that Barcelona’s apparent interest in him always appeared to be more of an English creation than a Catalan one anyway, and it’s debatable whether they were actually in the race for him at any point.
However, the word from Spain is that they definitely don’t appear to be now either way, with West Ham in front and close to getting their man.
