Growth as a leader and growth within Leeds United as Kalvin Phillips moves to recreate his England role at Elland Road, are the big aims Jesse Marsch has for his homegrown hero. The 26-year-old was back on the bench in the win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday, but Marsch said he had no plans to throw him onto the pitch at any stage. Rather than playing as the sole defensive midfielder we saw with Marcelo Bielsa’s system, Phillips looks set to play alongside one of Mateusz Klich or Adam Forshaw in a double pivot, much in the way he does with Declan Rice under Gareth Southgate. Asked if he felt Phillips could become an even better player in a role like that with Leeds,
Jesse Marsch said: “I hope so. That’ll be the goal. That’s the goal with all the players, is to help them develop and grow and get better and as people to help them develop and grow. So Kalvin has, as good as he is, room, as a leader, to grow, room with intensity and being aggressive against the ball and then how to use his quality with the ball to help himself in the team. So yes, I mean, that’ll certainly be the goal and all these young men are committed to that fully.”
The leadership aspect to Phillips’s growth has also been put on the agenda by Marsch since arriving, adding him to a seven-man leadership council with a voice which has been crafted by years in the academy at his boyhood club. Marsch wants to shackle that background and kick the England international onto the next stage of his development.
Jesse Marsch said: “He is a leader by his presence in the group and he can be a bigger voice in the group. That’s all. He’s clearly so well respected and liked in the team and he is Leeds through and through.”
