Jude Bellingham and James Maddison have both praised former Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips after he helped England qualify for the EUROs on Tuesday.
Phillips posted on Instagram after England’s passage to next summer’s tournament was confirmed thanks to a 3-1 victory over Italy.
The 27-year-old was making his first competitive start for England since March having seemingly nudged back ahead of Jordan Henderson in the pecking order, despite his lack of minutes at club level.
Bellingham and Declan Rice appear to have nailed down two of the three midfield spots in Gareth Southgate’s XI, with Phillips among those fighting to be in there.
That said, there were moments during the game at Wembley where you could tell Phillips was short of match sharpness, with his solitary start so far this season at Manchester City coming in the Carabao Cup.
Having Phillips in there, though, provides Bellingham with the platform to go and do what he has been doing to an incredible level at Real Madrid, which is getting forward.
Bellingham won the first half penalty that got England back on level terms, and also provided a brilliant assist for Marcus Rashford to put the Three Lions in front.
The 20-year-old, along with unused substitute Maddison, both praised Phillips in the comments to his Instagram post.
Phillips has again contributed nicely to England’s qualification campaign, even scoring his first international goal in the 7-0 romp of Gjanni Alioski’s North Macedonia in June.
Starting in both matches against Italy would indicate Southgate still has plenty of trust in Phillips, but if he wants to play a key role at the EUROs he has to be playing more at club level.
It feels increasingly likely he will be departing Man City in January and hopefully he finds a place where he can rediscover his confidence and match sharpness.