Darren Bent compares West Brom and Leeds duo, says who is ‘best player in the Championship’
Darren Bent has claimed that Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips is the best player in the Championship despite being impressed by West Brom star Romaine Sawyers this season.
Sawyers, 28, has proven to be a hit since returning to The Hawthorns in the summer and recently won Sky Sports’ man of the match award in the Baggies’ 2-0 win against Stoke City on Monday night.
Phillips, 23, has also had a good season for Leeds, completing 90 minutes in all but one of their 15 league matches this term as Marcelo Bielsa aims to take the Yorkshire club back to the top-flight.
In a discussion on talkSPORT, Bent and host Adrian Durham ended up talking about who is the best player in the Championship.
Although the former Aston Villa striker is a fan of Sawyers and the way he controls possession, he maintains that Leeds’ Phillips is the best that the second-tier has to offer.
“I agree with you on Kalvin Phillips,” Bent told Durham, as shown via talkSPORT’s official Twitter account on Tuesday evening. “For me, he’s the best player in the Championship. He’s so key to what Leeds do.
“But for me, he’s playing in the wrong division. I think he should be in the Premier League. I think Romaine Sawyers should be in the Premier League.
“Them two are good enough to be in that midfield as the anchor because they’re both very good on the ball.
“Where Kalvin Phillips edges Romaine a little bit, is his energy.
“Romaine, on the ball, he gets the ball, passes, it’s all at one pace and no one can seem to get the ball off him whereas Kalvin Phillips will fly out of the shackles.
“I’ve seen him play centre-half, he wins his headers, he takes the set-plays, he’s [got a] great delivery.”
Admittedly, Phillips is a much more well-rounded midfielder than Sawyers is.
No midfielder in the Championship has completed more passes than Sawyers has this season [WhoScored] but Phillips dominates the stats in other areas – especially off the ball.
Phillips has averaged more tackles, interceptions and clearances per league appearance than Sawyers this season while the Leeds midfielder has also averaged more key passes, long balls and crosses.
Sawyers is brilliant on the ball. There are not many players in the Championship who have the technique, vision and brains to pull off some of the passes that he does.
However if you are after an all-round midfield player, you have to agree with Bent and admit that Phillips is up there with the very best the second-tier has to offer.
In other West Brom news, Matheus Pereira sent a message to the supporters after the club’s win at Stoke.