The life of a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup winner sounds like a straightforward existence. That is even before adding in a European Championship final and 31 England caps but Kalvin Phillips has spent the past two seasons living in footballing purgatory, becoming the bittiest of bit-part players at Manchester City. Thanks to his healthy wage at the Etihad Stadium, Phillips is a difficult player to prise away from Pep Guardiola’s side, despite the fact he has almost zero chance of playing, making a loan the only viable option.

Phillips tried a short-term move in January, taking his fame and fortune to London but his time with West Ham was mildly disastrous as a lack of minutes at City resulted in mistakes. He made eight Premier League appearances but only three starts and returned for pre-season in Manchester wondering where he would wander for his next loan.

Guardiola took Phillips on tour and gave him a go at centre-back due to a lack of options and a love of experimentation but there was never much of a chance he would be in the first-team picture come mid-August. He sat patiently on the bench at Wembley during the Community Shield win over Manchester United, watching teenager Nico O’Reilly start ahead of him. Guardiola said of Phillips prior to the match: “When he is in the middle surrounded by players he struggles a little bit. But he helped us a lot in the last couple of games on tour. I should have seen that before. His confidence is back.” Not a ringing endorsement of a central midfielder.

An inevitable move – to Ipswich – is now on the cards with Ed Sheeran’s morale-boosting acoustic performance at England’s Euros camp obviously serving some sort of belated purpose. No Premier League club is more out of the way, making Ipswich a sensible place to rebuild. There is plenty of talent within Phillips to harness and Kieran McKenna will be confident he is the man to rediscover the potential that saw him move for £45m to City from Leeds. Some will think Phillips has wasted two years of his career at City but his bank balance and medal collection say differently. Now he can go and enjoy his football with the Tractor Boys.

“My God these Spanish people are boring … I didn’t imagine you were going to ask me a question about Kylian again. I don’t have anything to hide. I have always adored Kylian Mbappé and I wish him the best – and that Madrid lose against us” – Luis Enrique spent his press conference to mark the start of PSG’s Ligue 1 campaign against Le Havre talking about … you know who.

Gareth Southgate’s England call-up photo in [Wednesday]’s Memory Lane is intriguing. Yes, wrong flag, but why is Gareth wearing Chris Kirkland’s England youth team goalkeeping jersey. Nice Lev Yashin tribute styling though” – Geoff.

With the sight of Jimmy Greaves and Mike England downing milk from glass bottles in 1967, I was immediately transported back to 1947 and my five-year old self. Awakening from my kindergarten nap I would stumble sleepily into the hall with my classmates to grab ice cold milk in little glass bottles with a cardboard top and a little punch hole for the straw. Why does it taste creamier in the memory? Well it certainly was a thing of the past by 1982 when, on my first morning as a migrant in Australia, I rushed outside to waylay a milkman to enquire “Can I get Gold Top here?” With look of sadness (he was English too) he told me that the locals would have no idea what I meant. “This stuff’s too thin, it’s the heat.” He was right, and years later when the local version of the Milk Marketing Board let the Sheffield Shield fall into the hands of Pura Milk, I was prone to ask my neighbours, “Which is best, The Pura Milk Cup or The Sheffield Shield?” Pause while they reacted with some choice Australian phrases suggesting I had a shortfall in the sandwich/picnic department. I would clarify, “I’m not talking about the cricket, I’m talking about the milk; Sheffield milk, green grass, Jersey cows, inch of cream. Or your stuff; fields of straw, wilting cows and dishwater in cardboard?” Not the way to make friends but even now, at 82, I still yearn to go to the Co-op for my granny to get milk. And “don’t forget the divvy” – Bruce Ellis.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Bruce Ellis. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

It’s ya boi, David Squires, on the Premier League circus rolling into town.

Police in Spain say they have made four arrests after the father of Lamine Yamal was stabbed in a car park near Barcelona. He’s in hospital in a serious-but-stable condition.

Clubs on the south coast have started to spend big on transfers. Bournemouth have splashed out £40m for Porto striker Evanilson while Brighton are set to pay the same amount for Leeds United’s Georgino Rutter; that’s after the £25m addition of Brajan Gruda from Mainz. “He’s like a boy from the street, he can do special things,” cheered Seagulls boss Fabian Hürzeler on his fellow German.

Newcastle have revealed midfielder Sandro Tonali will be available again from 28 August after his 10-month ban for breaching betting rules expires.

Tottenham have suspended Yves Bissouma for their opening fixture against Leicester after he was captured on video inhaling laughing gas. “There’s some trust-building that needs to happen between Biss and the group,” said Ange Postecoglou, mate.

Mauricio Pochettino as the new manager of the USA! USA! USA? It’s close to becoming a formality, as Poch swaps working under a bombastic American soccer-boss for …

At Chelsea, new women’s manager Sonia Bompastor believes the WSL fixture schedule hampers English clubs who are also in the Champions League. “This is something we will need to work on with the FA,” she parped.

Ready, set, go! The Premier League 2024-25 is here, but with matters on the pitch looking more predictable than ever, Manchester City’s 115 charges provide an element of the unknown, writes Jonathan Wilson.

Our Premier League preview series nears completion, but don’t miss No 17: Southampton. Can Saints scrap their way to survival? Or No 18: Tottenham. Will Ange-ball result in a top four finish this time around?

How about a look ahead at Ligue 1? The French top tier returns this weekend with an absence of star names and a widening financial gap between the haves and havenots, Luke Entwhistle reports.

And now the La Liga version, via Sid Lowe, who readies himself for an epic El Clasico contest that will be dominated by Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal.

Xherdan Shaqiri has brought an ignominious spell at Chicago Fire to a close, he and the club mutually agreeing to a contract termination. But the Swiss’s struggles in MLS weren’t all his own fault, reckons Alexander Abnos.

And Emma Hayes may have enjoyed a slice of fortune en route to Olympic gold with the USWNT, but she earned every inch of that luck, says Beau Dure.

It’s back to the 2000-01 season where Liverpool’s trophy-laden campaign ended with the (budget-brand) treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup. But despite Gérard Houllier’s men eventually nicking third place in the Premier League, their Champions League bid took a wobble in December against newly-promoted Ipswich, who stunned Anfield thanks to a 45th-minute winner from Marcus Stewart. The Tractor Boys, managed by club icon George Burley, took four points off the Reds that season and will hope to revive those memories when they host Arne Slot’s side at Portman Road on Saturday lunchtime.