Kalvin Phillips has taken a huge dig at former Leeds United manager Steve Evans for his decision to rarely play him during his tenure at Elland Road.
The 21-year-old midfielder has broken into the Whites first team during the past couple fo seasons and is a permanent feature under current boss Thomas Christiansen.
He has played in all 11 Championship games so far this campaign and chipped in with an impressive four goals.
Phillips has become an important figure for the Yorkshire giants, but didn’t get much of a look in until Garry Monk took charge in 2016.
The central midfielder believes that he should have been used more frequently in the 2015/16 campaign by Evans, who failed to start him in a single match.
He was asked about the biggest obstacles career so far and he feels sitting on the sidelines under Evans was the most difficult to take.
“There is always people saying you can’t do this and you can’t do that but I never used to listen really anyway,” Phillips told LUTV. “I used to always think what is best for me
“I would say the year, not like I’ve got anything against Steve Evans, but the year Steve Evans was here I believe I could have been playing and he obviously thought differently.”
OPINION
Phillips believes he should have been in the fold more a couple of seasons ago, but even he would admit how far he has developed particularly in the past six months. The combative midfielder has forged a brilliant partnership alongside teammate Eunan O’Kane and look a well rounded player for Leeds. He has managed to overtake Ronaldo Vieira in the pecking order and is one of the first names on the team-sheet under Christiansen. Phillips is beginning to add goals to his game to go alongside his defensive qualities too so it seems his patient wait for the first team has paid off.