Liverpool journalist James Pearce has revealed that Reds defender Nat Phillips almost left the club during the recent summer transfer window.
This comes after Pearce recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Liverpool-themed The Red Agenda podcast where he spoke about a range of subjects concerning Jurgen Klopp’s side.
On the topic of Phillips, Pearce had this to say about the player.
He said: “I know Klopp absolutely loves him, he was prepared to give him a move only a few weeks back, he didn’t want to stand in his way at a time when Nat Phillips was a long, long way down the pecking order and he was on the verge of signing for Swansea City in the middle of October just before that domestic deadline.
“Liverpool had even given him the green light to discuss personal terms with the Championship club and Liverpool were less than impressed by the way Swansea conducted themselves and they ended up backing out of the deal and signing Ryan Bennett instead as a centre-half.”
Phillips made his senior debut for Liverpool back in January during the Reds’ 1-0 FA Cup win over their Merseyside rivals Everton.
More recently, Phillips made his Premier League debut in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over West Ham United at the weekend. The defender’s performance against the Hammers earned him a respectable match rating of 6.91/10 – higher than any of Liverpool’s other defenders that played in the match against the east London side (per WhoScored).
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TIF Thoughts on James Pearce’s comments on Nat Phillips…
It’s interesting to hear that Phillips almost left Liverpool in the previous summer transfer window for a move to Swansea City, but as Pearce said in the podcast, he was down the defensive pecking order at the club at that moment in time. However, with Virgil van Dijk out with a serious knee injury, this seems to have allowed Phillips to play for Liverpool in his place, as he did against West Ham.
Looking at how well Phillips did against David Moyes’ side, the club will undoubtedly be thankful that the defender ended up staying at Anfield.