Report: Manchester City now set ridiculous price tag for 27-year-old Newcastle target

Newcastle United have been strongly linked with an interest in Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

The alleged interest in the 27-year-old England man has been around for a while but the Kalvin Phillips stories have got much stronger lately in light of Sandro Tonali's suspension.

A loan move in January might have seemed like the best option but now The Mirror are reporting that Manchester City will be looking for a sale.

Manchester City have put a £50million price tag on Phillips

Not only that, but it seems they've gone absolutely bonkers and are looking for a profit having set his asking price at £50million. That's £8million more than they paid Leeds United last summer.

Phillips has hardly played for Manchester City despite picking up a nice collection of winner's medals. How they can justify making a profit is beyond us.

Newcastle are just one of a few Premier League sides interested in Phillips with Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham also sniffing about as well as Juventus.

Slapping a daft price tag on him may not have the effect City are hoping for. It's less likely to create a bidding war and more likely to just put clubs off.

Serena Taylor/Newcastle United Football Club via Getty Images

Newcastle can maybe still look to loan Phillips in January with an option to buy in the summer

That will leave Phillips in limbo, sitting on the bench watching from the sidelines as City pick up more trophies.

Gareth Southgate has told Phillips he will need to move to keep his England place, so Phillips will want to find a new club and will likely be fuming if Man City price him out of the market.

If Newcastle could negotiate a loan with an option to buy at £50million based on certain factors; make him earn that price tag in the second half of the season, then maybe that's something to look at, but right now there is no way Kalvin Phillips is worth more than Anthony Gordon.