Kalvin Phillips targeted as ‘marquee’ signing for shock London club as Leeds return hopes threatened

Manchester City have found a potential new buyer for Kalvin Phillips, who could surprisingly remain in London after his loan spell at West Ham United, a report has claimed.

Phillips went to West Ham in January for the rest of the season with the intention of getting back up to speed after a dismal 18 months in Manchester, but things have backfired for the former Leeds United midfielder. It would come as a major surprise if the Hammers were to try and keep the England international.

Now, Man City are ready to sell him at a lower cost than what they paid Leeds, a whole four years before his contract is due to expire.

There has even been speculation of a sensational return to Leeds, but it would hinge on Daniel Farke’s side winning promotion back to the Premier League and raising the funds to bring the Yorkshireman back.

Now, FootballTransfers has revealed that another contender for Phillips’ signature could be Fulham, who have been credited with an interest in the 28-year-old before.

Fulham are drafting up a list of midfield targets amid rumours that Joao Palhinha and Andreas Pereira are attracting interest from elsewhere. With that in mind, the report claims they have highlighted Phillips as a potential ‘marquee’ addition.

In fact, Fulham are already said to be ‘working on’ a deal for Phillips. Whether that means they are in talks with Man City or his representatives, or are even at an earlier stage of the internal process, is unclear – as is how much they would be willing to pay.

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Fulham consider Championship duo

Phillips is not the only option Fulham are considering for their midfield. Two of their other potential targets are currently playing in the Championship.

One is Charlie Patino, who is enduring a loan spell at Swansea City from Arsenal. The other is Callum O’Hare, who is approaching the end of his contract with Coventry City.

It may well be a case of Fulham picking between those three targets, rather than signing them all, unless they do lose multiple midfielders.

Palhinha was targeted by Bayern Munich last year and came close to moving to the German giants. Whether Bayern relaunch their pursuit or not, it is unlikely interest in him has faded from clubs of similar stature.

Meanwhile, there have been rumours about Pereira becoming of interest to clubs more likely to have European football on offer.

For example, the former Manchester United player has been linked with Atletico Madrid, as well as some as-yet-unknown top-six clubs in the Premier League.

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