Pep Guardiola has apologised to Kalvin Phillips for saying the player was overweight on his return from the Qatar World Cup.

The Manchester City boss made the comment during a news conference in December 2022, having left the City and England midfielder out of a Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool.

The midfielder is still contracted to Manchester City, but last month agreed a loan move to West Ham.

Phillips had told The Observer: “After the World Cup was probably the toughest, when Pep came out and said I was overweight.”

He added: “I did not disagree with him but obviously I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City.”

On Monday, Guardiola was asked at a news conference on Monday if he regretted publicly commenting on Phillips’ weight – and replied: “Yeah, I’m sorry. I apologise to him. I do apologise. I’m sorry.”

He said he spoke to the 28-year-old about the issue when he returned from World Cup duty with England – and said he always discussed issues with players before talking to the media.

Phillips said there had been a misunderstanding as to when he was expected to report back – and rather than speaking to Guardiola about that, he “just took it on the chin”.

He has made just 31 appearances for City since a £45m transfer from Leeds in July 2022 and Guardiola admitted in December he cannot envisage the England midfielder in his team.

Though he has left the Etihad on a temporary basis, there is an option to join the Hammers permanently.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Guardiola was talking ahead of Tuesday’s Premier League home clash with Brentford.

His treble-winners saw an 11-match winning run in all competitions come to an end with Saturday’s 1-1 league draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.

Related posts:

Hottest September day for Scotland since 1906 – but thunderstorms are on the way Government opens consultation on plans to make COVID vaccination compulsory for frontline health staff 30,000 trees to be felled in UK as climate change drives disease PM cancels visit after family member tests positive for COVID ‘No convincing case’ for ‘Britcoin’ cryptocurrency, committee says Migration policy to ‘seal off all loopholes’ as officials work towards deportation flights ‘by summer’ What experts are saying about the chance of a heatwave in the UK this summer Harry Kane ‘proud’ of Dele Alli for talking about childhood trauma Rugby tackle height to be lowered as concerns over concussions and head injuries grow Baby was inside tent that was struck by car which veered off the road and injured nine people Suits ewe: ‘Britain’s loneliest sheep’ is doing ‘absolutely phenomenal’ in new home New sighting of Clapham suspect reported – as man held ‘for assisting offender’