The scene might be a grand, chandelier-heavy ballroom inside Houston’s ritzy Post Oak Hotel but Kalvin Phillips is not for dancing around the issue.
As Manchester United and their interest in him is raised, the eyebrows go up and Phillips wears a look of, ‘Come on, what do you think?’ as he waltzes into a jibe.
‘Going to United?’ he smirks. ‘There was never any chance of me going there. You know my loyalty to Leeds. My family are all Leeds fans.
‘I was honoured by United wanting me, one of the biggest teams in the world but, no, I had to stay loyal to Leeds and go to the other side of Manchester.