Add as preferred source on Google

Ben Parker has claimed that Kalvin Phillips gives Leeds United the rock in their team when he plays.

Phillips, who earns £30,000-a-week (Mirror), returned to the side in the last game during the 2-0 away defeat to West Ham on Monday night.

Despite missing four games with a calf injury, Whites manager Marcelo Bielsa chucked the 25-year-old straight back into the starting XI against West Ham.

The Premier League fixture ended in defeat at the London Stadium, albeit the Yorkshire club played some eye-catching football at times and ultimately just weren’t clinical enough in the attacking third.

Parker felt that the return of Leeds’ midfield maestro Phillips was one major positive to come out of the recent match:

“I thought Kalvin was superb against West Ham. For him to be out for four weeks with no Under-23s minutes and to step in, I thought he was absolutely superb. He just gives you that rock,” Parker told the LS11 podcast.

TBR’s View:

England international Phillips is considered the most influential Leeds player in the squad by most supporters at Elland Road.

If the deep-lying midfielder is absent, there is a major gap in the XI and it’s difficult for anyone in the squad to replicate him.

It’s easy to overlook the fact that this is only his first season in the Premier League and the way he’s comfortably stepped up to the top flight shows his quality.

With the all-action midfielder now back, Leeds should be hopeful of turning around what has been a disappointing run of results lately, as they’ve lost four of their last five matches.