Kalvin Phillips placed himself in front of the microphone yesterday evening, to put to bed rumours of a supposed rift between himself and Marcelo Bielsa.
The England and Leeds United midfielder took the opportunity to refute such suggestions by offering himself for interview following Leeds' 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.
Phillips often comes across as a shy but magnanimous individual in his media work. Last night, he was sincere but serious as the 25-year-old corrected the discourse surrounding him and his manager.
Speaking to Amazon Prime following Raphinha's dramatic late penalty, Phillips said: "I’ll play any position the manager asks me to play, I’ll play centre back, if he wants me to play goalkeeper then I’ll play goalkeeper! As long as I’m playing, I’m not bothered.
"There’s been a lot of talk about me and the manager falling out but there’s never been such a thing. I respect him so much and I’d never fall out with him. When people are saying that, you get the fans thinking something’s not right so I just want to put that to bed. I feel like I needed to [squash it] because I’ve seen a lot of things on social media and on TV that we’ve fallen out and that’s never been the case."
Phillips was also seen engaging with a social media post in midweek which suggested his support for Bielsa had not wavered in the slightest, despite suggestions by prominent TV pundits.
The England man saw out the 90 minutes against Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace side, as Leeds recorded just their second victory at Elland Road this season.
A 1-0 scoreline, courtesy of Raphinha's 93rd minute spot-kick was enough for all three points on a night which saw Christian Benteke head wide from two yards for the visitors.
Up next for the Whites is another home fixture, this time against newly-promoted Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
