Michail Antonio reveals what Kalvin Phillips told him about Kevin De Bruyne on his first day at West Ham
Michail Antonio revealed what Kalvin Phillips told his new West Ham team-mates about Kevin De Bruyne after joining on loan from Manchester City.
Phillips moved to David Moyes’ side on a temporary basis until the end of the season last month, having found game time hard to come by at City.
The England international midfielder debuted from the start during the Hammers’ 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, before coming off the bench to play 19 minutes in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
Phillips played 27 times for City since the beginning of last season, although was largely restricted to cameo appearances.
He will hope a move to the London Stadium will reinvigorate his career ahead of this summer’s Euro 2024, where he will hope to remain in Gareth Southgate’s thinking in terms of squad selection.
He will bring with him to London the 18 months experience he has had of training and playing with some of the top footballers on the planet – including none other than De Bruyne.
The Belgian’s absence through injury has been felt by City this season, shown by the fact he already has one goal and four assists to his name in five appearances – only two of those starts – since his return last month.
De Bruyne is one of the greatest midfielders in the history of English football, with Phillips certainly having learned a lot from the 32-year-old.
Hammers star Antonio, who has been out of action for over two months with a knee injury suffered on international duty with Jamaica, explained the one thing Phillips told all of his new team-mates about De Bruyne.
He said: “When Kalvin came to West Ham, the first thing I said to him is, ‘How good is Kevin De Bruyne really?’
“He went, ‘Outstanding. He sees passes that nobody else sees’.
“He says all you need to do run and he will find you feet. When him and [Erling] Haaland are together, I see an assist!”
De Bruyne registered an assist during City’s 3-1 win over Brentford on Monday evening, passing to Phil Foden to score the second goal for Pep Guardiola’s side early in the second half.
