Pep Guardiola apologizes to Kalvin Phillips for disgraceful comments

PEP GUARDIOLA has apologized to Kalvin Phillips for making fun of him.

The Manchester City boss criticized his England midfielder for being 1.5kg overweight when he returned from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

But Phillips, who tried to rebuild his career on loan at West Ham, revealed the comments had a huge impact on him.

Guardiola has said this was the only time during his reign at City that he made such a mistake.

He said, “Yes, I'm sorry. Once every eight years isn't bad, but I'm so sorry. I apologize to him. I do. I'm very sorry.”

Guardiola insisted he had done things the right way as he spoke about £45m signing FOR the player told the world after joining the Hammers last month.

The Etihad chief added: “I have spoken about that. I spoke to him before our match.

“Before I say anything here, I speak to the players – and that's what I did in that case.”

Phillips, 28, has played just two Premier League games in 18 months at City – and just six games in total.

He moved to West Ham to try to secure his place in England ahead of this summer's European Championship finals in Germany but has endured a disastrous few weeks.

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His mistakes saw the Irons concede goals in his first two appearances, a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth and a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Phillips was subsequently shown two yellow cards in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Earlier this month, Phillips opened up about his difficult time at City following his move from Leeds in 2022.

And he revealed the jokes about his obesity had taken a heavy toll on him.

He said: “After the World Cup was probably the hardest thing, when Pep came out and said I was too heavy.

“He was right to do that, but there are different ways to go about it.

“It was just a misunderstanding, he was very frustrated because I came back 1.5kg above my target weight.

“It has had a big impact on my self-confidence and my feeling at City.

“My family wasn't happy about it either, especially my mother.”