Exclusive: Everton make move to sign Man City star

Everton have expressed interest in signing Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips, according to Football Insider sources.

With Amadou Onana in advanced talks to join Aston Villa, the Merseyside club has set their sights on Phillips to fill the defensive midfield vacancy.
Manchester City are looking to offload the 28-year-old, who joined the club from Leeds United for £42 million in 2022.

Everton have yet to make a formal offer for Phillips, but manager Sean Dyche and recruitment chief Kevin Thelwell are hoping to help revive the England international’s career following a disappointing loan spell at West Ham.

Dyche is said to prefer a proven Premier League performer who can slot straight into the starting eleven.

Everton wants Kalvin Phillips to replace Amadou Onana.
With Onana set to leave Merseyside for Aston Villa for around £50 million, Everton have a serious shortage of first-team defensive midfielders.
Phillips and Onana are different types of defensive midfielders, but both are equally capable of making a significant contribution to Everton.

Phillips was Marcelo Bielsa’s main man at Leeds United, helping the West Yorkshire club win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 17 years in 2020–21.
The ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ went on to make 214 league appearances for Leeds United before joining Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
However, Phillips has had a disappointing two years at City, where he has struggled to establish himself in the starting lineup.

Phillips also played an important role in England’s Euro 2020 campaign, guiding his country to the final before losing to Italy.

Viljami Sinisalo boarded Celtic’s flight to Washington for the US tour, but one of Brendan Rodgers’ two new signings was not on board. Kasper Schmeichel is out of contract, so no selling club negotiations are required. It appears strange that a deal has been reached, and Brendan anticipates Kasper joining the flight. Transfers are never completed until the electronic ink dries.

Norwich City fielded 23 players on Saturday, none of whom were Adam Idah. Whatever new manager Johannes Hoff Thorup (35) wants from his preseason, evaluating Adam does not appear to be at the top of the priority list. Norwich take on Brugge this evening. It will be interesting to see if Adam is once again excluded from the cast of thousands.

Congratulations to Celtic loanee Johnny Kenny (21) for scoring both Shamrock Rovers goals in last night’s dramatic win over Vikingur Reykjavik, securing Rovers’ group stage football for the season.