Kalvin Phillips settles the Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer debate before saying 'he's going to hate me for this'

Over the past few years, Kalvin Phillips has played with Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer for either club or country – but who comes out on top?

The 28-year-old midfielder, who is currently on loan at newly-promoted Ipswich from Manchester City, was tasked to rank all three players on Sky Sports' latest YouTube video.

Phillips has shared the pitch with Foden and Palmer during his time at City and on numerous occasions, he played alongside Bukayo Saka with England.

But it didn't take him long to put Foden at the top of his list. "I'm going to go with Phil [Foden] at number one," he said. "I'd heard about him before when I came to City, and the season that he had last year..."

After a hugely impressive campaign in 2023/24, Foden picked up the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award with 42 per cent of the vote, finishing ahead of Rodri and Declan Rice.

He also scooped the PFA Players' Player of the Year award after scoring a career-high 19 league goals, along with eight assists, over the course of the season.

Phillips went on to place former teammate Cole Palmer behind Foden.

"I've gone with Cole Palmer at two," he said. "I trained with him a lot at City and seeing him get that chance at Chelsea and taking it by the scruff of the neck."

Palmer, who finished last season with 27 goals and 15 assists across all competitions, has been Chelsea's standout performer for months.

He continues to impress in an England shirt when gives the chance, too. In fact, he was recently named the 2023/24 England Men's Player of the Year, finishing ahead of Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka.

Image credit: Getty

On the subject of Saka, a remorseful Phillips put the Arsenal winger in third place.

"He's going to hate me for this," the midfielder laughed. "I'd say he's been the most consistent out of the three over the years. Hopefully, this year, he can show that consistently and have a really good season."