Aston Villa could be set for a massive summer as they prepare to compete in the Europa Conference League next season, and now it has been reported that the club are preparing an ambitious move in the transfer window.
What's the latest on Aston Villa's interest in Kalvin Phillips?
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are keen to secure the signing of Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips should he become available this summer.
As per the report, it is claimed that the Midlands club are not put off by Phillips' comments about wanting to stay with the Premier League champions and have no intentions of giving up hope that they could snap up his services as they believe that City will be open to offers for the out of favour player in the summer transfer window.
This comes amid claims that Premier League rivals Liverpool are also eyeing a £35m move for the Englishman.
Would Kalvin Phillips be a good signing for Aston Villa?
Despite winning his first Premier League title and remaining in contention to complete the treble, Phillips has made no secret about his struggles over his first season with the Sky Blues.
The former Leeds star spoke out last weekend to Sky Sports (via Manchester Evening News) about his lack of confidence and concerns about game time since joining in a £45m deal last summer:
"It’s been unbelievably tough."
"It’s probably been one of the lowest moments in myself confidence-wise in my career, but with the guys around me like Kyle [Walker], they’ve kept me going, told me I’ll get my chance and it’ll come."
Amid the depth of midfield talent at Man City – with the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne all in the mix for a starting berth – Phillips has been unable to compete comfortably for a spot in the super team, making just his first start at home to Chelsea last week.
As a result, Villa could offer the England star – hailed an "absolute beast" by Nigel de Jong – an opportunity to move to a club where he can earn much more game time and play a more key role in the success the club will be striving for in Emery's first full season in charge.
In fact, the former Villarreal boss could form an incredible partnership between Phillips and Boubacar Kamara as the pair together could dominate the centre of the pitch and cause non-stop problems for opponents.
The two men could well thrive due to their ball-winning prowess, with Phillips having notably averaged 2.7 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game for Leeds last term in the league, while young Kamara has averaged a solid 2.4 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game this season.
Both Phillips and Kamara also boast an incredible passing range and unrivalled accuracy in their positions, with the City man having an average pass completion rate of 92% in the top-flight this term, while the latter man is only slightly lower at 85% for the same metric.
That is something that could be a huge asset for Emery in his pursuit to transform and improve the team's overall ball possession next season to align with one of the key components of his footballing philosophy.
With that being said, the signing of Phillips would be a major coup for Villa if they could pull it off this summer and the Man City star is certainly the perfect profile of player to help Emery achieve his goals for the team.