'Ultra positive' Leeds United man Kalvin Phillips now an England player but remains unchanged with family help

News that the man dubbed the “Yorkshire Pirlo” was to make his Three Lions debut began to leak out of the England camp on Monday night but when Gareth Southgate named his team to face Denmark on Tuesday it was still a hugely emotional moment for Whites fans.

Phillips is one of their own, after all, not only a Leeds boy who grew up just a couple of miles away from Elland Road, but a boy who fell in love with the club long before they signed him at 14.

For his loved ones, the mixture of pride and nerves must have been near intoxicating as they watched him perform for 76 minutes in the 0-0 Copenhagen draw.

His family have had a little taste of the fame that comes with a son in the Leeds team and Whites have taken them to heart too, his Granny Val’s appearance in the Amazon documentary Take Us Home turning her into a mascot of sorts.

When Phillips appeared on Zoom for a press conference late last season, he first had to answer a video call from his Granny. Football and family are his life.

Val’s mantra, when the media come calling, is twofold - her grandson hasn’t changed and his family wouldn’t let him.

“If he needs telling, we tell him,” she said in a TV interview broadcast over the weekend.

As his career has developed the milestones for Phillips and his family have got bigger and bigger.

A first-team debut for Leeds on April 6, 2015, a first senior goal five days later, a new deep-lying midfield role as a regular starter under Marcelo Bielsa, a new contract that kept him at Elland Road when Premier League clubs were loitering with intent, a promotion to the top flight.

All of those achievements came in the safe and familiar surroundings of Leeds United, with people he knows and trusts around him.

Then came a phone call from Gareth Southgate, a first-ever call up for England, a place on the bench against Iceland and, without ever kicking a ball in the top tier, a first cap.

At the age of 24, Phillips was thrust into an unfamiliar scenario.

All of a sudden, with next to no time to process what was going on, the team-mates, the coaches, the training, the formation and the badge on his shirt were all different.

Phillips dealt with it by staying the same.

“Kalv has only known Leeds United, he hasn’t known anything else, he hasn’t been mixed into a group of different players in a different environment,” said his agent and former Leeds player Kevin Sharp, who represented England at Under-18 level.

“But he’s ultra-positive and always has been.

“Every day, about how training has gone, how the players have been, how the manager has been, he’s always been ultra- positive - it’s gone great, they’re a great group, the manager has been great.

“Even when he didn’t get on at the weekend he was really upbeat about being involved against Denmark.”

Sharp got a message from his player on Tuesday morning to say he was going to start against Denmark but, belying his own delight and nerves, played it cool.

“I was overjoyed but you don’t want to make a big deal of it, so it was just be yourself, do what got you there, there’s a reason why you’ve been picked. I said turn your phone off now, get some rest because I’m sure it will have been hopping all day.”

Among his well-wishers and biggest supporters are his team-mates.

Long-standing dressing room leader Luke Ayling says he gets on with Phillips because he’s always happy.

Relative newcomer Ian Poveda quickly became friends with the local lad and their argument over who smiles more has lit up social media of late. Even Marcelo Bielsa, who keeps distance between himself and his players, showed his fondness for Phillips with a celebratory cuddle captured on camera when promotion was secured.

The head coach then gifted his young star with a Newell’s Old Boys shirt to mark the England call-up. Phillips enjoys universal popularity at Thorp Arch.

“I don’t think anyone deserves it more than Kalv,” said fellow academy graduate Jamie Shackleton.

“He’s a great guy and a great footballer.

“Everyone has seen that over the past two years. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

Phillips’ talent has flourished under Bielsa and turned him into what Sharp describes as ‘a different animal’ and that is what grabbed Southgate’s attention, but staying grounded and level-headed has helped.

In a week of unfortunate headlines for international footballers from this country, Phillips is a good news story that Leeds are only too happy to share with England.

“Like the subject, it could run and run.

“There’s always temptation with fame but that’s something that will never get levelled at Kalvin,” said Sharp.

“He’s got great people around him, his family, his girlfriend, I’m sure they’d never let him get ahead of himself even if he wanted to.

“He’s just a genuine, down to earth guy. He loves his profession, loves his club, loves his manager and his team-mates.

“He’s in a fantastic place at the moment.”