Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips has said that he is raring to take the playing field for the west Yorkshire outfit when the Championship season recommences later this month.
The 24-year-old has been a key figure for Leeds in the defensive midfield role, but he was absent for the last league game against Huddersfield Town on March 7 before the season was brought to an unexpected halt because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A sore knee was the reason behind his unavailability for the local derby, but that did not hamper the club in any form as they registered a fifth successive league win without conceding.
The momentum has been ceased with the break to the season, but Phillips is looking forward to the resumption of the campaign with Leeds, having become ‘fitter and stronger’ during the shutdown.
“I was one of them players. I missed the last game with a sore knee. I think the first week or so gave you time to recover. I felt exactly the same, if anything I’m probably fitter and stronger than I was before the pandemic,” He told Yorkshire Evening Post.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are currently at the top of the Championship table with a seven-point advantage over third-placed Fulham and they are in a good position to return to the top-flight through one of the automatic promotion spots.
Still, they can’t afford to take things lightly, given they were in a similar position last season before going through a poor run of form which saw them drop into the play-off places.
Leeds were eventually eliminated by Derby County during the play-off semi-final. The club’s faithful will be hoping that the team can avoid such a situation by restarting the campaign on a bright note.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com