Has this Leeds midfielder been born again?

Leaner, meaner and old beyond his years, Kalvin Phillips has started to turn the fans frustrations at him on their head and by hell, he's enjoying it.

The young midfielder has staked a claim to a starting midfield spot and is doing extremely well to keep out young prospect Ronaldo Vieira and £1million signing Mateusz Klich out of Thomas Christiansen's mind.

But what seems to have happened to a player that many fans could not tolerate only twelve months ago? We'll look at aspects of his game and see wher he's changed.

Goals

If there's one thing that last season Leeds did not do enough of is score from midfield.

The highest scorer away from 30 goal man Chris Wood was Pablo Hernandez on six goals and not many players were near him in terms of collaboration.

This season Phillips has already notched in an impressive three goals, more than he's scored in an entire season previously.

With goals now added to his game and Phillips being able to find these positions, the midfielders contribution to Leeds' overall performance has trebled.

There's nothing better than a central midfielder who can aim for a double figure goal tally and with the superb strikes the young midfielder has been bagging so far, that's where he could end up at the end of this campaign.

Defending

One facet that needed improvement was Phillips' willingness to really break an oppositions attack.

The midfielder has always been combatant but sometimes lacked the real nerve to take a man and stop him dead, something Leeds previously relied on Liam Bridcutt to do.

This season Phillips has showed on many occasions his improved defensive capabilities. This was epitomised by the fantastic tackle against Nottingham Forest that stopped a counter attack just outside of the opponents box and gave Giani Alioski the perfect chance to score a belter.

With the central midfielder now able to crunch tackles and win the ball back early for Leeds, this allows the fast paced attacking quartet to push forward with space and intent.

Phillips' man of the match worthy display against Bolton showed exactly what the young midfielder had been up to during the summer.

Passing

We've all seen the 21-year old attempt the flamboyant and fail miserably on occasion. Sometimes he is able to pull it off but more often than not it ends in the opposition getting the ball.

This side of Phillips game seems to have been eradicated as he looks to feed the ball forward in a more short and direct fashion, allowing himself to push forward himself.

This not only provides time and space for Leeds' attackers but also gives the player the opportunity to score from outside the box, which he has done on two occasions.

Positioning

With the new confidence seems a settled mentality in Phillips, knowing where and how to play the ball and when is best to make a tackle has allowed him to slot into the side with ease and look good while playing.

This is because he now knows exactly what position he is playing and what role he is assigned during a game - box to box.

Having spent time in a more attacking role or defensive role, Phillips has struggled to settle but this now seems to have been changed with Thomas Christiansen's tactics.

Phillips has now become the Uber of football, picking the ball up in delicate areas and delivering it to its needed destination, rather the feet of Samu Saiz or buried in the bottom left corner.

Overall, Leeds have seen a player blossom into exactly what he should be and more. Phillips is starting become the polished product that had been promised more than three years ago.

With his current performances there's no reason why Phillips isn't showing to be one of the greatest academy talented that has been given the chance in the first team at Leeds. Even showing the likes of Lewis Cook and Sam Byram the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Equipped with a team around him that can only improve his ability, Phillips is the man to beat. With a hot streak of current form it's likely that Phillips will feature in tonight's clash with Birmingham and NetBet are offering 11/1 for the midfielder to score first for the whites. To find out more click here for NetBet Sport.

Keep going Phillips, you're making a lot of Leeds lads who dreamt of putting that shirt on very proud (and maybe a little jealous).

By Ryan Ingham