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Durham: England would be a better side with Phillips

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talkSPORT host Adrian Durham has said that England would be better with Kalvin Phillips in the squad.

He was responding to a Leeds fan who said that Phillips and Declan Rice should be England’s holding midfielders.

On an England segment on Drive (talkSPORT, Wednesday, 5.30pm), the fan phoned in to say, “If Phillips and Declan Rice were our holding midfielders we’d be a much better side. Phillips won’t get a sniff while he’s playing in the Championship, though.”

Durham replied saying, “I can’t say I disagree with him.”

Terrace talk 

There are plenty of fans who feel the same way as Durham.

One Leeds fan said that Phillips is “level par with Rice & Winks” and name-checked him as the Yorkshire Pirlo. He said Phillips will be an England regular as “soon as we get out the bloody Championship”.

Gareth Southgate obviously prefers players from the Premier League, waiting until the last two qualifiers to give Mason Mount his debut, despite a stunning season in the Championship with Derby.

An Arsenal fan agreed, too, saying that he thought Phillips was “miles better” than Rice who he said is “not ready for England’s first team. Kalvin Phillips is miles better than him”.

Another Leeds fan said that if you didn’t think Phillips deserved a call-up for England, you were “deluded”.

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