Leeds United: Kalvin Phillips makes Ipswich Town, Marcelo Bielsa claim | OneFootball

Kalvin Phillips recently dropped a Leeds United reference when discussing his current spell with Ipswich Town

Leeds United's iconic promotion season in the 2019/20 campaign under Marcelo Bielsa has recently been referenced by Kalvin Phillips, who is currently enjoying his latest loan spell away from Manchester City with Ipswich Town.

The Whites academy product became a fan favourite at Elland Road and particularly thrived under the esteemed tuition of legendary Argentine boss Bielsa before completing a blockbuster £45 million transfer to Man City in the summer of 2022.

But Phillips, who was named as England's player of the year in for 2020-21 while still at Leeds, has endured well-documented struggles since trading Elland Road for the Etihad Stadium. The defensive midfielder has found regular opportunities particularly hard to come by from Pep Guardiola, who has seemingly never fancied his talents.

He started just two Premier League matches in his first season at the club and then didn't make a single appearance in the starting eleven, including just four in total in top-flight action, prior to joining West Ham United in an ill-fated loan deal back in January of this year. Phillips' time at the London Stadium was nothing short of a disaster but he was handed a shot at redemption by Kieran McKenna, who brought him to Portman Road on loan in something of a coup for newly-promoted Ipswich Town.

Phillips has made seven league appearances and counting for Ipswich, where he appears on course to be rejuvenated following a troubling two years.

Kalvin Phillips' Leeds United, Ipswich Town comparison

The 28-year-old is clearly enjoying his football but also appears much more confident and assured, which can be attributed to the increase in faith he's received from McKenna since joining the club. In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Phillips revealed that he lost "fire in his belly" after being on the periphery at City, although he's seemingly got his spark back now for the Tractor Boys.

Interestingly, the former Leeds midfielder believes he has a similar feeling at Ipswich to what he had during Leeds' historic and long-awaited promotion back to the Premier League under Bielsa, who finally guided the Whites back to the promised land in his second season in charge.

Phillips was a key player under Bielsa, who took his game to a new level, so this revelation will certainly be good news for Ipswich while Leeds fans will also be happy to see an uplift in fortunes from afar.

Phillips explained: "I just wanted to get that feeling back. I felt like I lost some fire in my belly to compete sometimes, but ever since I've been here, and even in pre-season when I played a lot of minutes I got that fire back, and made the decision to come here to play football and get back doing enjoying what I do.

"It has a similar feeling here to the season at Leeds when we got promoted. We're different in what we do, we're very intense and for me it's about enjoying the season and for the lads too."

Kalvin Phillips, Ipswich Town developments will harm ambitious Leeds United transfer claim

Although everybody connected with Leeds will simply be glad to see Phillips enjoying his football again, there is a catch. The Whites have previously been linked with a sensational reunion with the 31-cap England international, who has also reportedly been keen on the move, but his current redemption at Ipswich spells doubt about when they could be able to actually pull off the deal.

He's in a settled environment and under the stewardship of a top-class head coach who is currently redeeming his career, so you would imagine there is every chance Phillips could want to make his stay in Suffolk a permanent one if Ipswich avoid the drop this term.

Just where that would leave Leeds remains to be seen. The Whites are gunning for promotion and will certainly fancy their chances at bringing Phillips back to West Yorkshire if they can get back to the Premier League, but his time at Ipswich is going well and he may want to extend his stay there - and who could blame him?