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Bielsa wants to build team around Phillips

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OPINION

After Leeds failed to win promotion to the Premier League, it was inevitable that rumours would kick-off over some of their best players. 

Kalvin Phillips is the first and he’s on Bournemouth’s radar, according to Football Insider, with the Premier League side plotting a £15m move for the midfielder.

talkSPORT pundit Danny Murphy said on Monday that he would be “amazed” if a Premier League side didn’t snap him up over the summer.

However, in a report in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Phil Hay has written something that should give Leeds fans hope they can hold onto their star player.

Marcelo Bielsa is deep in talks with Leeds over a one-year extension to his current deal and he is seemingly putting Phillips at the centre of these.

“Bournemouth – the club who snared Lewis Cook from Leeds in 2016 – were linked with Phillips over the weekend,” wrote Hay, “but Bielsa would want the 23-year-old to be central to his plans again if the Argentinian agrees to remain in his job as head coach.”

Leeds will be desperate for Bielsa to stay at the club and if he wants Phillips to stay their hands might be tied.

Of course, Phillips himself could agitate for a move, but with a manager like Bielsa backing you like this, there’s a big chance he’ll decide that his future is best served as close to the maverick manager as possible.

Phillips’ game has been transformed under Bielsa and another year fighting to get Leeds back in the Premier League could be on the cards.

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