Pep Guardiola has apologised to Kalvin Phillips for saying the participant was obese on his return from the Qatar World Cup.
The Manchester City boss made the remark throughout a information convention in December 2022, having left the City and England midfielder out of a Carabao Cup tie towards Liverpool.
The midfielder remains to be contracted to Manchester City, however final month agreed a mortgage transfer to West Ham.
Phillips had advised The Observer: “After the World Cup was probably the toughest, when Pep came out and said I was overweight.”
He added: “I did not disagree with him but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City.”
On Monday, Guardiola was requested at a information convention on Monday if he regretted publicly commenting on Phillips’ weight – and replied: “Yeah, I’m sorry. I apologise to him. I do apologise. I’m sorry.”
He mentioned he spoke to the 28-year-old in regards to the situation when he returned from World Cup responsibility with England – and mentioned he at all times mentioned points with gamers earlier than speaking to the media.
Phillips mentioned there had been a misunderstanding as to when he was anticipated to report again – and somewhat than talking to Guardiola about that, he “just took it on the chin”.
He has made simply 31 appearances for City since a £45m switch from Leeds in July 2022 and Guardiola admitted in December he can not envisage the England midfielder in his crew.
Though he has left the Etihad on a short lived foundation, there may be an possibility to hitch the Hammers completely.
Guardiola was speaking forward of Tuesday’s Premier League residence conflict with Brentford.
His treble-winners noticed an 11-match profitable run in all competitions come to an finish with Saturday’s 1-1 league draw with Chelsea on the Etihad Stadium.
Source: information.sky.com”