Kalvin Phillips says he has recovered from his shoulder injury, insisting it is “perfectly fine” as he spies a late push to get into England’s World Cup squad.
Kalvin Phillips said: “The shoulder is perfectly fine now, I’m back into full training. I’ve gone through a process of seven weeks of recovering as fast as I possibly can for the World Cup and everything’s going great, touch wood. Everything’s going good. After my first full contact training session the other day, I didn’t think he’d come to me and say he’d try and get me some minutes against Chelsea. So it’s a real positive and he knows that I want to be out there playing football playing for Man City trying my best to be at the World Cup as well.”
Phillips said he “thinks” he would be able to play a full 90 minutes again this week but remained balanced when asked about his World Cup chances.
Kalvin Phillips added: “I’m not too sure yet [if he’s going to Qatar]. The squad list hasn’t come out yet but I’m very hopeful that it’s an option that I can be involved. We’ll have to wait and see. The ex-Leeds star detailed how both Guardiola and Southgate spoke to him after his shoulder surgery, a procedure which was encouraged by his club manager with his World Cup hopes in mind. When I first decided to get the operation done, I spoke to three people. I spoke to Pep, I spoke to my mum and I spoke to Gareth. I spoke to Gareth about my situation and the time of it and how quickly I could recover but obviously I understood if he didn’t select me in any way because of not playing any games. He reassured me that as long as I’m fit enough and you’ve proved that I’m progressing well then there’s always a chance that I’ll be called up. I’ve done everything in my power to try and be as fit as possible and hopefully I’ll be involved. “
