Kalvin Phillips joins West Ham on loan from Man City

Kalvin Phillips has joined West Ham on loan from Manchester City for the rest of the season.

The two clubs agreed a straight loan deal, and the Hammers do not have an option to buy the 28-year-old after seeing off interest from Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Barcelona and Juventus to get him.

Phillips passed a medical on Thursday and becomes David Moyes’ first January signing and the third midfielder he has recruited since the £105m sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal, after Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse.

Phillips cost City £42.5m when he joined from Leeds in 2022 but started just six matches for them and only two in the Premier League, playing only 89 minutes of top-flight football this season.

City manager Pep Guardiola suggested on Thursday that the England international could yet return to the Etihad Stadium and play a part.

“Yes, why not?” he said. “He has to play to make me realise how wrong I was. For the guys who behave well I don’t care, but these kind of persons who help us in every training session and in the minutes he played, with that I always feel what could I do more, so hopefully he can play regularly. And, of course, why not?”

Phillips was unable to displace Rodri from the City side but Guardiola also picked a host of other players ahead of him – including Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva– and said he blamed himself rather than the midfielder.

“In that position we need another thing that sometimes myself struggle a little bit to see him,” added the City manager. “That’s all. The quality is there. That’s why he’s in the national team. Look what he’s done at Leeds, the quality is there.

“I regret more myself than Kalvin. With others no, but with him, and [considering] how he behaved, it’s my responsibility. I have to be here to help the players develop and be better players and suit what we want to do and I was not able to do it.”