A Manchester City player, who is playing for another Premier League club this season, has revealed how Pep Guardiola's comments about his weight affected him.
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Upon returning from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Guardiola caused a stir when he called Phillips "overweight".
The central midfielder later admitted he was hurt by the former Barcelona tactician's remarks, for which Guardiola publicly apologised.
Phillips' time in Manchester is arguably best remembered for the fallout that followed the City manager's comments, with the England international having since been loaned out twice.
For the final six months of last season, Phillips joined West Ham United in a temporary switch, while he is representing Ipswich Town this term.
Speaking on the My Mate's A Footballer podcast, in quotes carried by the Mirror, the 28-year-old revealed how Guardiola's words followed him long after they were spoken.
"You probably heard about the time when Pep came out and said that I was overweight after the World Cup and stuff," Phillips said.
"And I think that narrative on social media just kind of grew and grew. Every club that I'd go to, I spoke to, like the manager and the nutritionist and stuff like that, they'd always speak about weight before they'd say anything else.
"And it got to the point where it peed me off a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it, but then now I've come to Ipswich, the manager's an unbelievable person as well as a manager. We spoke about all my past stuff that happened in my career and stuff like that.
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"He said, 'I'm big on body composition and I just want you to get to where you was when you left Leeds or when you was at Leeds, and I think that'll give us a good starting point for you to push on and hopefully get back to where you was'."
