Kalvin Phillips opens up on impact of Pep Guardiola weight comments – ‘It peed me off’

Ipswich Town anchor Kalvin Phillips is enjoying life under Kieran McKenna, who has handled one specific matter very differently from his Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola.

Pep Guardiola’s criticism about Kalvin Phillips’ weight prompted the England midfielder to “peed off” with other teams.

More specifically, the 28-year-old became irritated that his weight was often brought up when speaking with suitors following that comment. After the 2022 World Cup, Manchester City boss Guardiola stated Phillip returned from Qatar overweight, which has since become a sort of stigma for him in the public eye.

Phillips, who joined Ipswich Town on loan from City this summer, revealed that current manager Kieran McKenna, like former managers such as Pep and Marcelo Bielsa, is concerned with body composition. He joined former Leeds teammate Patrick Bamford on the My Mate’s A Footballer podcast to discuss how Guardiola’s public prodding caused a ripple effect.

“You probably heard about the time when Pep came out and said that I was overweight after the World Cup and stuff,” he told reporters. “And I believe that story on social media simply continued to grow. Every club I went to, I spoke with, such as the manager and the dietician, and they would always talk about weight first.

“And it came to the point where it annoyed me a little. I was becoming upset with it, but now that I’ve moved to Ipswich, I feel that the manager is an incredible guy as well as a manager. And, you know, we spoke about all of my previous professional experiences and everything like that.

“And he basically said, ‘I’m big on body composition, and I simply want you to get back to where you were when you left Leeds, or when you were at Leeds. And I believe it will provide us an excellent starting place for you to go on and maybe get back to where you were.”

Phillips wasn’t the only one asked to lose some weight at Leeds, but Bamford mentioned that Bielsa was “harshest on Kalv” because he saw his potential. And Phillips’ diet was stringent, pushing him to spend some evenings with only a protein drink for nutrition before returning to work the next day.

However, the athlete was aware that such constraints were not sustainable in order to avoid injury and other hazards. And, after working so hard to win his £42 million move to City in 2022, Phillips had additional weight-based therapy at the Etihad.

To his credit, Guardiola has now apologized for publicly discussing Phillips’ weight. The midfielder has already spoken about the difficulties he has encountered in football and in life as a whole since that incident, admitting that it has harmed his overall confidence.

“Yeah, I apologize.” In February 2024, Guardiola stated, “Once every eight years is not bad.” “But I’m very sorry. I apologized to him. I chatted with him before making the statement. I never, ever speak to the team before saying anything here, or to the player in that scenario.

Podcast presenter Joe Wilkinson joked that his tighter diet meant he was “not allowed chocolates again,” but his actions were considerably more drastic. Whatever the new strategy, it appears to be working, as he played a key role in Ipswich’s recent 2-2 draw with Villa, as he attempts to keep the Tractor Boys on track for Premier League survival.