This Monday (19), Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola apologized to Kalvin Phillips, for ‘overweight’ comments he made.
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In December 2022, after Phillips had returned from the World Cup in Qatar, Guardiola said that the midfielder was “overweight”. The comments were made to explain why Phillips had been excluded from his squad for a Carabao Cup fourth round match against Liverpool.
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Recently, Phillips talked about that moment, saying that the comments were “a big knock to my confidence”. “Once in eight years is not bad. I’m sorry, I do apologize to him. I’m so sorry”, said Guardiola during a press conference on Monday.
Guardiola also said that he spoke with Phillips about the issue, before making the comments. “I spoke to him. I never before said something here [to the media] without speaking to the player”, said the manager.