The first time Kalvin Phillips spoke to media as a Manchester City player, the task ahead of him was clear. How can he hope to get minutes ahead of Rodri.

He insisted he was good enough to play at City and learn under Pep Guardiola. He insisted he could play alongside Rodri, rather than instead of him.

Eighteen months later, and Phillips is staring at an exit from City after just 31 appearances for the club, of which just six have been starts, at an average of under half an hour per appearance. He is unlikely to reach the 1,000-minute mark in sky Blue, and City have paid £46,000 per minute he has played. Or £1.35m per appearance.

The ultimate nail in an already-shut coffin could come as Phillips may well be overlooked for the FA Cup visit of Championship strugglers Huddersfield on Saturday. With a January exit increasingly likely, the risk of injury or cup-tying the midfielder far outweigh the benefits of playing him.

So as Phillips stares at a dramatic climb-down from his move from Leeds, what has gone wrong for the £42m man who was meant to be a long-term solution in the midfield and took Vincent Kompany's iconic number four shirt?

Phillips' City career didn't get off to a good start when he missed the grand unveiling of the summer's four signings - including Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez - because he picked up Covid. That did, however, allow for a more in-depth chat in the team hotel in Houston on the summer tour, where Phillips declared that he would never have joined Manchester United before picking City.

As the conversation moved on to his place in the City midfield, the likeable midfielder admitted there was a significant step up in quality at his new club. "I know there will be times I'm pulling my hair out because it's so difficult but that's what I wanted, that's my decision.," he said, ominously. "That's why I came here and what I wanted to do.

"It's a risk-reward thing, I want to come here and prove myself against the best players in the world. If I do that, great, and if I don't then obviously there's things that might not go to plan."

Phillips featured in that pre-season, but was used more at centre-back rather than midfield owing to injuries and absences in the defensive ranks in the US. If pre-season was a chance to show his qualities in midfield, circumstance dictated that he couldn't. When he did play in midfield, he often looked behind play, having to think about what was needed from him in the midfield rather than a natural instinct of knowing where to be.

After a one-minute cameo on the opening day, he wouldn't play in the Premier League again until the new year due to a shoulder injury that left him in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup in December 2022.

He impressed in a more familiar system in Qatar for England, albeit from just two substitute appearances, but a nightmare evening in Southampton on his first start saw him fail to show what he had learned on a night where every player was under par. Phillips was culpable for giving the ball away or losing his man for both goals as City lost 2-0 in Pep Guardiola's self-confessed 'worst' game in charge. He was hooked after the hour mark to compound his forgettable full debut.

That was a missed opportunity given that he had returned from the World Cup 'unfit' according to his manager. After proving himself fit to play, Guardiola said: “It will maybe be a good lesson for him in the future. A football player has to be perfect for 12 months because you can enjoy and do whatever you want but you have to be ready because this level is so demanding and to play every three days you have to be fit and if you are not fit, nothing. In the last week, he has improved his level.”

Clarifying the situation later in the season, Phillips said: “A lot of people think when somebody says you’re overweight that it means you’re five or six kilograms overweight. But it was just the fact that I’d gone away to New York and flown back and had the whole day, then was reporting to training at the end of the day.

“I’d had a full day of eating and when I stood on the scales I was two or three kilograms heavier, so Pep wasn’t too happy which is perfectly understandable because you’re more likely to get injured, and especially with my track record that season of being injured he wasn’t too happy about it, which I totally agree with. So it’s a lesson learned and it won’t happen again.”

Regardless of the technicalities, it was another setback for Phillips, who would have to wait for another start until after City had won the Premier League following the Southampton debacle. His only two league starts to date came when the title was won, with starts against Chelsea and Brighton with nothing to play for. His first 90 minutes at Bristol City in February saw him almost score with a long-range effort in the first minute, but that wasn't enough to start another game in the competition and he was unused in the final. He hasn't started a meaningful Premier League or Champions League game, or a cup tie past that ill-fated Southampton trip.

One cameo against Leicester, which only lasted 37 minutes, was perhaps the clearest indicator that he stuck out like a sore thumb in City's midfield. He has needed games to show his quality, but whenever the chances have come, he has not been able to show it.

Into 2023/24, and Phillips opted to return early for pre-season to try and make a positive impression. He looked at players like Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish, who all took a season to learn the ropes at City, and saw an opportunity to prove himself.

When City offered a chance to leave on loan, he declined, saying: "I just want to concentrate on playing for Manchester City so that was the end of it.

"There were no offers. If anything came about I would listen to the offer but I think my intention was to stay. I am not going to have just one season at City and just because I am not playing and just say 'oh well, I have been here for a year and enjoyed it but it’s not for me.' I wanted to try and break my way into the team even though it’s very difficult.

"I want to try and make a name for myself at Manchester City. That’s the reason I came. I didn’t come here to just to sit on the bench and be happy with doing nothing. I want to continue in some way and hopefully I can do that."

Those comments came after Rodri's red card against Nottingham Forest, earning a three-match ban and an open door for Phillips to start all three games. He did indeed start against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup - but with Guardiola saying he would have to turn to the academy for that game in the build-up, it's likely he would have started anyway in a side that also included Oscar Bobb and Sergio Gomez.

When City travelled to Wolves in the Premier League that weekend, Phillips was back on the bench, and Bobb was preferred at half-time when Matheus Nunes was replaced. Phillips didn't get on at Arsenal, ending the 'biggest week of his City career' arguably further down the pecking order than when he started.

As a result, Phillips went away with England and quickly changed his tune over fighting for his City place. "I want to play football and want to play as much as possible," he said. "Over the last year-and-a-half I haven't been able to do that due to injuries and [other factors]. It's something I am going to have to think about. Hopefully my chance does come but if it doesn't then I will have to make other decisions as well."

In response, Guardiola said he would always consider Phillips as an option while he was with the squad, but added he did not know what would happen in January. Then, in a backhanded compliment, he said: "When we need a game with transitions or games with something with chaos Kalvin is perfect."

This was the manager famed for his desire for control saying Phillips is best in a game where chaos is needed. And if that wasn't confirmation of what Phillips needed to know, Guardiola said in December: "It’s just because I visualise something, I visualise the team and things, I struggle a little bit to see him, that’s all.

"I feel so sorry for my decisions for him, I said many times. He doesn’t deserve not to give him minutes. I'm so sorry. It’s not because I am not pleased. I feel so sorry for him. It's a business, in the end I have to act professional."

Phillips' professionalism and attitude has never been questioned. He has always given 100 per cent to City, and is liked among the squad - as shown by his goal from the spot at Red Star when his teammates insisted he take the late penalty. There is clearly a top-class player there, but the signs have been present for a while that he does not possess the instincts needed to be a City regular.

When youngsters like Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Micah Hamilton are coming through and taking their chances - while looking far more natural than Phillips - it is a sign that he's a player whose style just doesn't fit at City.

There is every chance that he could leave City and find a team which plays to his strengths, and he puts this period behind him, but it is clear he won't find that at the Etihad. If (or when) he leaves City in January, he will do so having shared just 16 minutes of game-time in midfield next to Rodri across three appearances, all at the end of comfortable wins. Almost all of his 25 substitute appearances were in place of Rodri, to give the no.16 a little rest.

Among all the damning statistics behind Phillips' nightmare spell at City, those stand out more than most to underline how he has simply never been able to prove his place in Guardiola's midfield.