Kalvin Phillips is poised to reunite with the prospect of reigniting his career at a newly-promoted club after Ipswich Town agreed a season-long loan move for her Manchester City.
Kelechi Iheanacho dropped from Nigeria squad Nigerian forward Kelechi will not be a part of the country’s final World Cup qualifier against Algeria.
The England international needs regular football after two irritating seasons at City culminated in an unsuccessful loan move to West Ham earlier this year.
Kieran McKenna however, now has another chance to reboot him and he will view his signing as an important step towards having a team that can challenge on top of.
Kalvin Phillips is set for a medical at Ipswich on Thursday and, as long as the deal goes through that day, he will be eligible to line up against Liverpool in their third-round tie at Portman Road on Saturday.
They have been promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 2002 and once back at house in heaven they promised greater transfer market ambition having come all this manner on two quick promotions.
Their pick of six arrivals to date was a club record £20m move for Chelsea forward Omari Hutchinson but it is the swoop for Kalvin Phillips, who has been capped 31 times at senior level in international football, which will turn heads beyond Suffolk.
Everton and Fulham were also keen on Kalvin Phillips in his loan with City, which even saw him feature at center-back during the club’s pre-season trip to the United States.
Though he had four years still to run on his City deal it has long been apparent that his future lays elsewhere, with Pep Guardiola appearing unconvinced about the technical attributes suit their style and saying famously in December 2022 that he was overweight when returning from the World Cup.
All up he has featured 31 times for the Sky Blues, just six from kick-off.
McKenna will be looking to find the Kalvin Phillips who found himself as a star of Leeds United The 28-year-old, having starred enroute to England’s Euro2020 final may well hope that a return to form in Ipswich restarts his international career.
He appeared in his last international as a substitute against North Macedonia, in the autumn of 2021 and was missing from their Euro 2024 squad.
So far, the transfer market has offered as many setbacks for Ipswich as it has successes but the club will be guided by an unwavering resolve to keep going.
With both still looking to add further up front and being linked with the like of Blackburn man Sammie Szmodics it could drag on.
Napoli midfielder Jens Cajuste, who came close to joining Brentford before that deal fell apart, is another player of interest on loan as they assess whether to move for both him and Phillips.
Brighton, meanwhile, have signed for £25m from Mainz and confirmed they had activated the £40m release clause of Leeds forward Georginio Rutter.
A Bundesliga regular with the 20-year-old Germany Under-21 international Gruda, after which new head coach Fabian Hürzeler was convinced.
He is definitely not a model German, Id say. Deyon like a street-boy, he likes the ball at his feet! The specific things he can do are what all of our offensive players can do,” said Hürzeler.
He needs time, he’s come from Germany and very young.
And the Premier League, he is looking forward to it and we are trying to make him ready for the best league in the world.
