Leeds United fans' perfect social media sabotage as West Ham supporters poke fun at Kalvin Phillips

Kalvin Phillips has won an unofficial West Ham United player of the season vote, thanks to a helping hand from Leeds United supporters. Phillips joined the Hammers in January in a loan that was designed to kick start his career after a difficult period with Manchester City.

It's fair to say his time at the London Stadium has not gone to plan, though, with a series of high profile errors ensuring his time on the pitch has been limited over the last few months. In fact, since his poor showing against Newcastle United, which led to Phillips putting his middle finger up to critical fans as he stepped back onto the team bus, he has made just one appearance under David Moyes.

It's safe to say the England international will not be joining West Ham on a permanent basis this summer then, and his inclusion in West Ham Xtra's player of the season poll on Twitter was clearly through sarcasm.

The account, which boasts more than 25,000 followers, nominated Phillips alongside the more serious choices of Jarrod Bowen, Alphonse Areola and Emerson Palmieri for their Hammer of the year award last week before the club's loss at Chelsea in the Premier League.

That's where Leeds fans intervened, stepping in to vote for the former White in their thousands. Retweets and comments drew attention to the poll among Leeds fans and by the time the voting had closed, it attracted a total of 19,314 votes.

Of those votes, 64.2 per cent of them went to Phillips to ensure the midfielder won the poll by an absolute landslide, in what was an act of perfect social media sabotage. For what it’s worth, Bowen, who has netted 20 goals for the Hammers this season, came second with 31.6 per cent, while Areola was third with 2.5 per cent.

Phillips is now approaching something of an uncertain summer. The midfielder clearly doesn't have a future at parent club Manchester City and he is expected to move on, one way or another, in the coming months.

Fulham have been linked with the 28-year-old, while there have also been numerous suggestions that a return to Leeds could be on the cards, two years after his initial departure. However, Leeds would need to win promotion through the play-offs to make that a possibility and even then, it seems he might just be out of the club's price range in terms of both his wages and a transfer fee, with City reportedly demanding £30m.

Phillips’ struggle in east London has seen him drop out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad, too, and despite the international experience he has to offer, right now it seems highly unlikely that he will be included in the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 squad.