Virgil van Dijk could make Nat Phillips an even greater player. The Dutchman should return next season.
Make no mistake – Nat Phillips has been lucky this season. We don’t mean that as a negative by any means but it’s true.
Phillips was at Liverpool already this season but he wasn’t supposed to play much. Perhaps he could have gotten a game here and there, primarily in the cups.
He certainly wasn’t supposed to start 11 Premier League games and two fixtures against Real Madrid in the Champions League knockouts. Those were thanks to luck.
Injuries thrust him into contention and without Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all going down, Phillips wouldn’t have played much at all this season.
But there’s an important note here. Luck handed Phillips those opportunities and nothing more. He still had to take them.
Taking them meant earning a place in Liverpool’s XI. It meant earning trust of players and coaching staff, it meant seeing off competition from others.
Phillips has done all of that and right now he’s Liverpool’s best centre-half. There can’t be much debate about that.
He looks comfortable at this level and Liverpool look better with him in the side. You only need to watch Phillips to learn that.
And his stats paint a picture. Phillips against Southampton was a rock, for instance.
He cleared the ball five times – more than any other Liverpool player – and won seven headers. That latter stat is remarkable. Not only was it the highest figure in the game but Phillips won those seven headers at a 100% success rate.
That’s the kind of stat you read about Van Dijk and rave about. Phillips is absolutely fantastic in the air – near perfect.
In fact, no player in the Premier League this season wins more headers at a higher percentage than Phillips. He’s one of the best.
But Phillips is far from perfect. He can make poor decisions from time to time, while he doesn’t have the pace to reliably handle a high line.
That just makes us think, though – is there more to come? There must be, as Phillips is still learning this level.
More importantly, though, Phillips has played 90% of his games alongside another inexperienced defender. How good would he look alongside Van Dijk?
Phillips hasn’t had the luxury of lining up next to the world’s best defender. A player who makes his partners look much better.
Put Phillips next to Van Dijk, then, and you will get an even more comfortable player. You’ll also have a natural partner to hide that weakness against high lines.
Phillips has undoubtedly been fantastic this season but with Van Dijk returning next year, there’s a chance to see even more. And that’s worth considering when Liverpool go defender hunting this summer.
They might have a natural way to improve without spending a penny.
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