Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips a wanted man yet again but does his international future belong with Jamaica or England?

The Leeds United midfielder spent last summer on the back pages as Aston Villa pursued his services and Leeds pursued his signature on a new deal.

A breakout season under Marcelo Bielsa in the Argentine’s first year in charge made Phillips a wanted man.

Villa weren’t the only top flight outfit keen to prise him from his boyhood club but they led the hunt and got as far as a conversation between boss Dean Smith and the midfielder.

But Phillips, who went through conflicting emotions, knew deep down that he belonged at Leeds and after putting pen to paper on a five-year-deal, helped put them back in the Premier League.

Now, he will not only achieve his dream of playing at the top level of English club football, but when he does so he will wear the shirt of the club he supported as a youngster.

But Phillips has another dream – international football.

For anyone who has watched him operate so brilliantly and so effortlessly at Championship level, the prospect of Phillips wearing an England shirt in the future is perfectly plausible.

His performances put his name on the lips of England manager Gareth Southgate.

Phillips couldn’t hide his delight, when Southgate offered the opinion that both he and fellow 2019/20 Championship winner Ben White could potentially feature in the postponed Euros.

The global pandemic moving the tournament back a year will allow the pair to put a full season of top flight football under their belt and, should they swim rather than sink, bolster their claim for a call up.

But even before football was hit by COVID-19, Southgate and his team had been doing their homework on Phillips.

“We’ve talked about those two but it could be a Ben White, who has been on loan at Leeds, or a Kalvin Phillips, that haven’t played Premier League football yet,” he said.

“Those sorts of players could come into the frame. We’re always open to what it looks like.”

Even just hearing himself talked about in a hypothetical sense by Southgate was a huge boost for Phillips.

“I read the little bit with my name mentioned, he mentioned it’s maybe good for us, we could eventually be involved,” he said.

“That was massive for me, I’ve always wanted to play for England and be recognised by somebody at international level.”

That recognition appears inevitable but while Southgate has talked about Phillips, he’s yet to talk to him. Instead, Jamaica have made a bold attempt to nip in ahead of England and secure the 24-year-old, who is yet to represent any country at any age level.

He qualifies for the Reggae Boyz through his father and is pleased that they think highly enough of him to want to talk about his future on the world stage. Once again, Phillips is a wanted man with decisions to make.

This time there is only one offer on the table. But Southgate’s words will still carry considerable weight – he left a carrot dangling and a good season in the Premier League, once he’s over his current knee problem, might be enough to send Phillips to the Euros. It might not. How long does he wait?

Phillips’ 2019/20 statistics stack up well against the two men currently standing in his way – West Ham’s Declan Rice and Tottenham’s Harry Winks – but they did operate at a higher level.

He was more involved in games, with more touches and more passes per game.

He created far more chances, although his tally of 68 was augmented by set-pieces, made more successful long passes, won more duels and more aerial battles per game.

Rice and Phillips’ numbers are similar in terms of ball recovery and tackles won, but the Leeds’ man passed it better.

Winks was the best overall short passer of the three, but less of a physical force.

As a man marker, in the Championship he was imperious and rarely troubled, but he contributed mightily to what Leeds did on the ball too. In the Premier League, he will be tested, severely.

Yet if Southgate has already seen enough not only to analyse Phillips, but talk about him to the media, he could do worse than pick up the phone and give the player an honest appraisal of just where he stands, so when there is a decision to be made, Phillips knows deep down where he belongs.