I lost my fire when Pep Guardiola didn't play me at Man City - I had to escape the limelight

Kalvin Phillips admits that he 'lost the fire to compete' while sitting at the bench at Manchester City, due to regular snubs from Pep Guardiola.

Phillips has struggled for game-time at City since his £42m move in 2022, spending time out on loan last season before leaving for Ipswich on a season-long deal this term. He has spoken publicly about the impact of his lack of games, and some public comments by Guardiola that he took exception to.

Guardiola apologised for telling a press conference that Phillips returned to City overweight after the 2022 World Cup, and the pair have had a mixed relationship throughout the last three seasons.

ALSO READ: Gvardiol and Walker out, Gundogan vs De Bruyne - Inside Guardiola's Man City dilemma vs Liverpool

ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola's 'best Man City player' needs a rest - otherwise Mo Salah will punish him

Now at Ipswich, Phillips has told Sky Sports that he suffered from confidence issues as a result of barely playing at City, to the point where he lost his competitive nature on the Etihad sidelines - which had an effect on his fitness and confidence.

"At City, you can train with the best players every single day but if you're not playing football every day, it's difficult to stay fit, it's difficult to stay confident," he said.

"When there are times you're feeling like you could play and the manager decides to go down a different route, it does hurt a little bit. The more I wasn't playing, the less confident I got, the less fit I got.

"I just wanted to get that feeling back. I felt like I lost some fire in my belly to compete sometimes, but ever since I've been here [Ipswich], and even in pre-season when I played a lot of minutes I got that fire back, and made the decision to come