Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips says criticism from manager Pep Guardiola that he was “overweight” was “a little hard to take”.
Guardiola said he dropped Phillips for a Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool in December because he returned from World Cup duty “in no condition to play”.
“For me, I wasn’t overweight, but obviously the manager has seen it in a very different way,” said Phillips.
“I just took it and did my best to get as fit as possible.”
Phillips made just four appearances for Manchester City before leaving for Qatar in November to play for England in the World Cup.
He had struggled with injuries in the first few months of the campaign after signing from Leeds in a £45m deal last summer.
Those struggles feature in a documentary, Kalvin Phillips: The Road to City, which will be aired on Amazon Prime from 19 July.
The England midfielder told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast show that while he disagreed with Guardiola’s comments at the time, he worked hard and went on to make 21 appearances for City as they won the Treble in his first season at the club.
He said: “It was a little hard to take just because of how much it was oversized and how many people started talking about it.
“I was on the bench for the Leeds game straight after that and I was fit every match since then.
“It was just one of those things, it was a misunderstanding from me and some staff members. You will see a lot more in the documentary.”
‘I’ve spoken to Grealish about my first-season struggles’
Phillips also told the BBC about the help he has received from team-mates who also struggled to make their mark at City initially, including the club’s £100m record signing Jack Grealish.
“I spoke to quite a few of the lads about their first season at City, about when they joined and how difficult they found it,” said the England international, who has earned 27 caps under Gareth Southgate.
“They said exactly the same things… that it takes at least 12 months to really understand what the manager wants you to do, the way he wants you to play and how he wants you to work.
“But I knew that anyway. I have been friends with Jack [Grealish] for a long, long time. I spoke to him last year when I was struggling to make it into the team and he was just saying he understands – the first season at City is always difficult.
“Hopefully next season is a lot better for me and I am just looking forward to getting my head down, seeing the lads again and getting the season under way.”
Phillips spoke openly about growing up in Leeds without a father figure, how his father Mark is in prison, and why he wanted to do the documentary to act as an example to other children in his situation.
He said: “If anybody feels they are in the same boots as me, then hopefully they will see that if you work hard and keep believing in yourself then you will be able to make your dreams come true.”
Phillips added: “I went to see my dad a couple of months ago. I said to him ‘I want to help you when you get out, I want to try to help you settle down and make sure you don’t go straight back into prison’, like he always used to do.
“He said ‘honestly Kalvin, all I want to do now is to watch you play football’.
“He said he would be happy with that for the rest of his life because he has missed so many things since he has been in prison. I said that’s all right by me.”
