Danny Murphy has said that he would “be amazed” if a Premier League team doesn’t snatch Kalvin Phillips up in the summer.
The talkSPORT pundit said he was the standout player for Leeds and that they would do very well to hold onto him after failing to win promotion to the Premier League.
Talking on the Jim White Show (Monday, 12.20pm, talkSPORT) Murphy was talking with former Leeds manager Simon Grayson.
“I think the supporters are desperate for him [Bielsa] to stay, but who knows what he’ll do,” Grayson said. “I think it will be an interesting 10 days or so. Someone posted a pic of him and Orta talking at a hotel, but have the owners got the money to back him again?”
Murphy said that Bielsa should get praised for bringing young players through at Leeds this season and that he was seriously impressed with midfielder Phillips.
“He’s brought a lot of young players through and that’s something that isn’t always attributed to foreign managers and he deserves credit for that,” Murphy said.
“I don’t know what they’re going to pump in finically but some of those players are going to be looked at this summer. I’m really, really impressed with Phillips. Calm, good foot, I’d be amazed if someone didn’t snatch him up. He was the one I looked at and thought ‘He’s going to go’.”
OPINION
Three challenges face Leeds this summer. Firstly, holding onto manager Marcelo Bielsa and it’s been reported today that Leeds are increasingly confident of that happening. That would be a huge boost and could have a serious knock-on effect on the other two challenges. The second is holding onto their key players, like Kalvin Phillips, Kemar Roofe and Pontus Jansson. Roofe is only under contract until 2020 so that will need to be sorted this summer and we’re not sure Leeds will have the money to make him the offer he wants. However, we’re not convinced that he’s Premier League standard either, so that will be interesting. Finally, Leeds will need to attract new players this summer, without a huge amount of money to spend, and that would definitely be a lot easier with Bielsa in charge. Who wouldn’t want to play for and develop under Bielsa? If Leeds can secure his services, we’re convinced they’ll be battling for promotion again at the end of next season.