Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips has admitted that manager Pep Guardiola’s ‘overweight’ comment was hard to take.

Phillips believed he was not over the weight limit, but Guardiola thought otherwise.

The English star, who joined Manchester City for £45 million from Leeds United last summer, played just 21 games in the 2022–2023 season for Guardiola’s side across all competitions.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the 27-year-old claimed that he found it hard to take when Guardiola publicly called him overweight.

“For me, I was not overweight, but obviously the manager has seen it in a very different way. I just took it and did my best to get as fit as possible.

“It was a little hard to take just because of how much it was oversized and how many people started talking about it.

“It was just one of those things; it was a misunderstanding between me and some staff members,” he said.