Sky Sports presenter Joe Thomlinson has been speaking on the Football Daily YouTube channel about how Aston Villa could move for Nat Phillips.
Aston Villa and Steven Gerrard may well be in the market for a new centre-back after they cut Axel Tuanzebe’s loan spell at the club short, leaving them a defender shy, although the return of Ezri Konsa will have been a big boost.
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Someone who has been linked with a move is Liverpool outcast Nat Phillips, with the 24-year old defender still yet to make a league appearance this season, although he has featured in the Champions League.
Thomlinson believes that he could be moving to the Midlands this month, claiming that Phillips could be linking up with Gerrard.
He said: “I don’t know whether this is true or whether I’m just making this up. They’re quite interested in Nat Phillips, obviously Steven Gerrard’s got very strong ties with Liverpool.
“Nat Phillips, I think he’s actually like a bog-standard Premier League centre-back – won’t let you down very often and will confidently compete with Kourtney Hause in that backup role.”
TIF Thoughts on Phillips potentially joining Villa…
Phillips has been pushed out of the first-team picture this season, with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate all ahead of him in the pecking order, but last season, he managed to rack up 20 appearances across all competitions and managed to keep nine clean sheets, while netting a goal in the league as well.
The centre-back would arrive with a wealth of Premier League experience and could provide some very good competition to the other options Gerrard has at his disposal, and with just a £15 million price tag on his head, the Villans would do well to sign him for such a cut-price fee.
In other news: ‘This deal is close’ – Sky Sports journalist reveals Aston Villa transfer update