Manchester City manager Pep apologises to Kalvin Phillips for calling him "overweight"

Kalvin Phillips has received an apology from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for publicly stating that he was overweight when he returned from the World Cup in Qatar.

When Guardiola benched the City and England midfielder during a Carabao Cup match against Liverpool in December 2022, he made this statement at a press conference.

"After the World Cup was probably the toughest when Pep came out and said I was overweight," Phillips, who signed a loan with West Ham in January, said to the Observer earlier this month. "I did not disagree with him, but obviously, I took a big knock on my confidence and how I felt at City," Phillips continued.

When asked if he regretted revealing Phillips' weight to the public during a press conference on Monday, Guardiola responded, "Yeah, I'm sorry." 

It's okay to do so once every eight years. However, I apologise deeply. I'm sorry to him. I'm sorry. I apologise. 

Phillips stated that he "just took it on the chin" instead of talking to Guardiola about the miscommunication regarding the expected return date.

With a focus on speaking with Phillips before making the public remark regarding his weight, Guardiola declared, "I never, ever before I said something here did not speak with the players in that case."

The manager spoke ahead of Tuesday's Premier League home match against Brentford, whom City defeated 3-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium on February 5th after coming from behind.

In the latter moments of that game, Kyle Walker, a defender for City, became enraged over something that Neal Maupay, an Everton forward on loan to the Bees, had said to him.

"I don't want it, but sometimes there are emotions, and it happens, and you know that," Guardiola remarked. However, this incident is lost to memory. That was it; I believe they had a conversation."

When asked how he handled it when players verbally abused him while playing, the former Barcelona midfielder replied, "It depended on my mood! 

"Listen, during my time in Barcelona, I hold the record for the yellow cards given out. It was all talk, talk, talk all the time. 

Thus, it depends; at times, I was in control of myself, and at other times, I was crazy. "Ah, he cannot control," people remark. I was the same way when I played football." 

In Tuesday's match, third-placed City will play second-placed Arsenal and leaders Liverpool, who are four and two points behind, respectively, in the standings. 

The 1-1 league draw between Guardiola's treble-winning team and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday marked the end of an 11-match winning streak across all competitions.