Bayern Munich 'make contact with Manchester City over Kalvin Phillips move'

Bayern Munich have reportedly made contact with Manchester City to discuss the availability of midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Thomas Tuchel is known to be on the lookout for a new defensive midfielder and the Bundesliga champions came close to signing Fulham's Joao Palhinha in the summer.

However, Palhinha's proposed move to the Allianz Arena collapsed at the eleventh hour, and the Portugal international has since signed a new long-term contract with Fulham.

Bayern are understood to still regard Palhinha as their primary midfield target heading into January, but they are keeping tabs on a number of other alternatives.

According to 90min, the Bavarian giants have identified Phillips as an alternative to Palhinha and have made contact with Man City to gauge his current status at the club.

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The report adds that Tuchel is an admirer of Phillips and was left impressed by the midfielder's performances for former club Leeds United.

Phillips left his boyhood club Leeds in the summer of 2022 after seven years in the first team and moved to Man City where he was initially hoping to establish himself as a regular in Pep Guardiola's side.

However, the 27-year-old has started only five of his 26 appearances for the Citizens across all competitions, starting just one of the club's first 13 matches of the new campaign.

While Rodri is considered the undisputed first-choice holding midfielder at Man City, Phillips has already fallen behind summer signing Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes in the pecking order, while 18-year-old full-back Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva have also been used in deeper midfield roles ahead of the Yorkshireman.

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Phillips still has five years remaining on his contract at the Etihad, but the midfielder is allegedly ready to consider an exit from Man City in search of regular first-team football.

However, a recent report claims that the Citizens are only willing to part ways with Phillips if they can recoup as much of the £45m that they spent on the midfielder 15 months ago as possible.

Speaking to Channel 4 after starting in England's 3-1 win over Italy in Euro 2024 qualifying on Tuesday, Phillips said: "As a football player, you always want to be playing, and so that's the case with me.

"I want minutes and obviously I haven't done that over the last year and a half, so that's one thing I want to do. Let's see what happens."

Bayern could face competition from a host of Premier League clubs for Phillips's signature including West Ham United, Newcastle United, Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool.