Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips has admitted that Pep Guardiola's comments about him being "overweight" were "a little hard to take".
The 27-year-old join the treble-winning Citizens last summer from boyhood club Leeds United in a deal worth an initial £42m.
However, Phillips endured a frustrating debut season at the Etihad Stadium, largely due to injury and having to play second fiddle to fellow lynchpin Rodri, and he subsequently started just four of his 21 appearances across all tournaments.
Injury prevented Phillips from settling in quickly at Man City and he only just recovered in time to travel with Gareth Southgate's England squad to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Following the Three Lions' elimination in the quarter-finals, Guardiola stated before an EFL Cup clash with Liverpool in December that Phillips had returned to the Citizens "overweight" and "in no condition to play".
Phillips – who has been speaking ahead of the launch of Kalvin Phillips: The Road to City, which is available to view on Prime Video on July 19 – has played down suggestions that he was overweight and has acknowledge that those comments from the Catalan boss were difficult to take.
"For me, I wasn't overweight, but obviously the manager has seen it in a very different way," Phillips told BBC Sport. "I just took it and did my best to get as fit as possible."
Speaking on BBB Radio 5 Live's Breakfast show, Phillips added: "It was a little hard to take just because of how much it was oversized and how many people started talking about it.
"I was on the bench for the Leeds game straight after that and I was fit every match since then. It was just one of those things, it was a misunderstanding from me and some staff members. You will see a lot more in the documentary."
Phillips has revealed that he has learned some valuable lessons following that experience towards the end of last year, telling Sky Sports News: "A lot of people think when somebody says you're overweight that it means you're five or six kilograms overweight, but it was just the fact that I'd gone away to New York and flown back and then was reporting to training at the end of the day.
"I'd had a full day of eating and when I stood on the scales I was two or three kilograms heavier, so Pep wasn't too happy which is perfectly understandable because you're more likely to get injured, and especially with my track record that season of being injured he wasn't too happy about it, which I totally agree with. So it's lesson learned and it won't happen again."
Phillips has opened up on the mental challenges that he faced during his first campaign at Man City and has admitted that at one stage he was reduced to tears following a substitute outing at home against Leicester City in April.
"The only time that I've felt down about the situation was when Man City played Leicester and I came on for about half an hour, but I was rubbish," Phillips told Sky Sports News. "I can remember going home and I was so upset with myself that I started crying."
Despite links of a possible summer transfer away from Man City, Phillips has expressed his desire to stay at the Etihad Stadium and is focused on making his mark in 2023-24.
"My first season at City was always going to be difficult, especially when you're injured as well," Phillips added. "Even when I was on the bench, you're trying to understand the way Pep wanted us to play and just try to take in as much information as possible.
"I finally got to play a few games towards the end of the season as well which was very nice, and I was just happy to be involved in such a great team and go on the run we did at the end of the season."
Phillips will soon link up with his Man City teammates ahead of their pre-season tour of Asia, with their first friendly fixture taking place in Japan against Yokohama F. Marinos on July 23. body check tags ::
