The midfielder was accused of being "overweight" when he returned after the 2022 World Cup and thinks that the remark created an unjust narrative around him despite the Manchester City coach's apology.

Phillips told the BBC podcast 'My Mate's a Footballer': "You probably heard about the time when Pep came out and said that I was overweight after the World Cup and stuff. And I think that narrative on social media just kind of grew and grew.

"Every club that I'd go to, I spoke to, like the manager and the nutritionist and stuff like that, they'd always speak about weight before they'd say anything else.

"And it got to the point where it peed me off a little bit."

Phillips is on loan at newly-promoted Ipswich after failing to nail down a place at City following his £45 million move to the club in 2022 but he revealed that he was left in awe by Guardiola's football acumen after the coach accurately predicted how a Premier League fixture at West Ham would play out.

The England international recalled: "He said, 'West Ham are going to start well, they're going to put us under pressure and then we're going to have a little bit of time, we're going to get opportunities to get the ball to Kevin (De Bruyne) and then if Kevin plays it behind for Erling (Haaland), we're more than likely going to score.'

"He mentioned different ways that we could attack and then how they're going to press us and then you'd see it happen in real life."