'He's going to hate me for this' — England midfielder ranks Phil Foden and Cole Palmer above Bukayo Saka

Kalvin Phillips has had his say on the debate that has polarised England fans for months.

Throughout Euro 2024, there was a clamour for Gareth Southgate to throw all his best creative players onto the pitch together.

It was an urge the long-serving manager largely resisted as the Three Lions plotted a sometimes fortuitous path to the final.

Cole Palmer came off the bench to score in the 2-1 defeat to Spain in the showpiece and England fans voted the Chelsea star their Player of the Year this week.

It's unlikely Southgate's men would even have made it to that final without Bukayo Saka's brilliant late equaliser against Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

Phil Foden started every game in Germany but was unable to get on the scoresheet, rattling the post against Denmark and the Netherlands.

Foden, Palmer and Saka were named from the start by interim boss Lee Carsley but a disjointed performance ensued in Thursday's 2-1 UEFA Nations League defeat to Greece.

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Nevertheless, Kalvin Phillips believes Manchester City 's reigning PFA and FWA Player of the Year Foden remains the cream of the crop.

"Obviously I'd heard about him before and the season he had last season… he's the best player I've ever trained with and played with, I think," Phillips, who is on a season-long loan at Ipswich Town from City, told Sky Sports .

Phillips was asked by Sky to rank various sets of pre-selected personalities from music and entertainment, with his former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa coming out ahead of Pep Guardiola and Southgate in his manager ranking.

"I've gone for Cole Palmer at two because he's very similar to Phil," he said of his England rundown.

"I trained with him a lot at City. Seeing him get the chance at Chelsea and take it by the scruff of the neck.

"I love Cole as well because he's so laid back and chilled, he's very funny as well."

Phillips was a mainstay for Southgate with Saka en route to the Euro 2020 final and he tried to soften the blow of his ranking decision.

"He's going to hate me for this," he chuckled. "Bukayo has been the most consistent out of these over the years.

"Hopefully this year he can show his consistency again and have a really good season."