Marcelo Bielsa called Kalvin Phillips out of the blue to help lift his spirits after a bad game for Man City

Kalvin Phillips has revealed that Marcelo Bielsa called him out of the blue after the 27-year-old had a poor game for Manchester City.

Phillips has struggled to settle in to life at Manchester City after making the £45 million switch from Leeds United last summer, managing just two full games in the Premier League last season.

Ahead of the upcoming campaign, Phillips' struggles over the past year will be documented in a 90-minute film on Amazon Prime titled: 'Kalvin Phillips: The Road to City'.

The documentary is described as an underdog story about Phillips' rise from the Leeds academy to winning the Champions League with City and is set to be released on July 19.

As well as painting "an intimate portrait of a footballer with deep roots and family values", the show will follow his path to Premier League champions Manchester City and the dramatic injury ahead of last winter's World Cup.

A hugely important figure behind Phillips' journey is Bielsa, who managed the Whites between 2018 and 2022, a period which saw Phillips called up to the England squad.

The midfielder has since opened up on his relationship with Bielsa, revealing a phone call they had in April after Manchester City's 3-1 Premier League win over Leicester.

"Marcelo Bielsa is a very special person to me. He's a great manager and a manager that found the best in me as a football player and I'll always be grateful for that," Phillips told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I actually spoke to him a couple of weeks ago. I'd come on against Leicester and I didn't do too well and I was kind of feeling a bit down, and he texted me and asked if he could speak to me.

"It was a bit of a weird one because obviously he can't speak English so his translator had to call me and she connected us by that way through the phone.

"He was just asking me how I was feeling and what I was thinking and we had a really good conversation, so the relationship is obviously still there with Bielsa and obviously I wish him all the best at Uruguay."

Topics: Kalvin Phillips, Manchester City, Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United, Football

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno