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Kalvin Phillips has admitted his surprise at England’s training sessions, highlighting the difference between them and his usual ones at Leeds United.

The 24-year-old midfielder earned his first ever England call-up during the current international break, with Nations League fixtures against Iceland and Denmark in the next few days.

Phillips, who is yet to play a single minute of Premier League football in his career, has done enough to catch the eye of senior Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.

The deep-lying playmaker has seen his game come on massively in the past couple of years since manager Marcelo Bielsa joined and he played a massive role on the pitch in the club’s promotion from the Championship last season.

He’s explained that with club side Leeds there is much more focus on the tactical side of the game, compared to a focus on possession since he linked up with England for international training.

“It’s very different [the training]. At Leeds we do more tactical drills whereas at England we were doing more possession-based football which caught me by surprise really,” Phillips said, as quoted by England’s official Youtube account.

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It’s no surprise to hear that the Leeds sessions are massively different, as Argentine boss is a perfectionist that has a way of playing the game and will focus on the minor gains to succeed.

Bielsa has been the best thing to happen at Leeds in recent years and Phillips owes much of his rise to the international stage to him.

Meanwhile, in the England camp Phillips is going to be playing alongside better players that mostly play for the elite clubs in England and it’s going to be a step up in ability that he will need to adjust to.