It is not uncommon to see players struggle in their debut seasons at Manchester City, but few have found life as difficult as Kalvin Phillips.
The 27-year-old left boyhood club Leeds United last summer, penning a six-year deal at the Etihad, with City sending £42million to West Yorkshire. Having spent 12 years with the Whites, the move to a new club would always carry challenges, but when that club is City and the manager is Pep Guardiola, those pressures are magnified.
Guardiola's exacting style and relentless drive for standards have been hard for a number of new Blues to grasp, most notably Jack Grealish who has come through the other end and is enjoying the best form of his career this season.
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Similarly to Grealish, Riyad Mahrez struggled in going from big fish at Leicester to small fry at City while John Stones' first few seasons saw him struggle under the pressure.
The difference with Phillips, however, is in the man he is tasked with displacing. Rodri has consistently been one of Guardiola's most trusted lieutenants since his arrival in 2019, and the Spain international seems only to be getting better each year. He has started in 29 of City's 30 Premier League matches this season, his 2,451 minutes only bettered by Ederson.
In their debut seasons at City, Stones and Mahrez made 27 appearances in the league while Stones managed 26. Phillips is currently on seven.
"Kalvin still needs a bit of rhythm in short spaces," Guardiola admitted last week. "We miss the best of Kalvin, it’s a reason why he doesn’t have a lot of minutes.
"I’ve rotated a lot [for semi-finals] in previous seasons and it wasn’t good. I have many doubts. Of course the players are going to say they want to play but at the same time we have to be sure that the people are in the right condition."
But while a lack of rhythm is the reason for Phillips' lack of minutes, the midfielder also cannot build up said rhythm without regular game time. Unfortunately for him, Rodri is going nowhere any time soon and Guardiola doesn't look prepared to rest his midfield general.
To write Phillips off already would be premature, and one can look at the likes of Grealish, Stones and Mahrez as evidence of players getting it after an initial season. Unfortunately for the former Leeds man, in getting ahead of Rodri he faces a tougher task than anyone else before him.
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