Liverpool to make decision on 25-year-old defenders future
Soccer Football - Championship - AFC Bournemouth v Middlesbrough - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - April 15, 2022 AFC Bournemouth's Nat Phillips in action with Middlesbrough's Aaron Connolly Action Images/Paul Childs EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Liverpool were set to lose defender Nat Phillips this summer after the 25-year-old enjoyed a successful loan spell at Bournemouth, where he won promotion to the Premier League with the club.
A reported price tag of £15m has been thrown about to acquire Phillips’ services, a fair sum when you consider the players’ age and the successful season he had for the Cherries.
However, according to the Liverpool Echo, Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool are reconsidering selling the defender this summer and may instead loan him out again for the 2022/23 campaign.
Nat Phillips would be a pretty good signing for someone if Liverpool decided to let him go. Note how consistent his defending was between the 2. Bundesliga and the Premier League with our league-adjusted stats. He improved the on-the-ball side of his game back at Anfield. #LFC pic.twitter.com/WwJoU1Dtzf
— smarterscout (@smarterscout) January 7, 2022
The report claims that Liverpool potentially see Phillips as Joel Matip’s long-term successor and are weighing up whether or not letting him go this summer permanently would be a mistake.
Nevertheless, whether it’s on loan or permanently Bournemouth are clear favourites to land Phillips for next season and the club seems like the perfect place for the defender to push on in his career with.
Phillips wouldn’t be pushing his way into Liverpool’s starting XI anytime soon, with Joel Matip, Ibrahim Konate and Joe Gomez all ahead of him in the pecking order to partner Virgil Van Dijk.
In spite of that, the defender’s talent is clear, and a loan spell playing a full season of Premier League football would be the ideal solution for both parties.