Kalvin joined us as an eight-year-old and when I see him now, he’s just how he was as a kid,’ says Ian Thackray, Kalvin Phillips’ manager at Leeds amateur club Wortley Juniors. ‘He always had that lovely smile and wasn’t aggressive at all, which is quite different to how he is as a player.’
Thackray’s take on the imposing midfielder, who grew up dreaming of playing for Leeds United in the Premier League, feels about right.u200b
For behind the smile lies a talented, tenacious and highly-driven player whose rise from humble beginnings in west Leeds would not look out of place in a Roy of the Rovers comic-book story.