Bournemouth have made their move to sign Nat Phillips on loan from Liverpool next season.
According to Sky Sports, the Cherries have ‘approached’ Liverpool about a second loan deal for Phillips.
It’s claimed that The Reds were initially going to allow the centre-back to leave the club this summer. However, they’re now ‘keen’ for him to stay to provide a long-term successor to Joel Matip.
As a result, Liverpool are reportedly ‘weighing up’ whether or not to accept Bournemouth’s proposal.
Not another loan
At this very early stage of the summer, Liverpool would be wise to wait and see if any more permanent solutions present themselves for Phillips.
The claim that he is now being seen as a long-term replacement for Joel Matip also surfaced in the Liverpool Echo at the weekend.
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Whether that’s the case or not remains to be seen. What’s clear is that if all of Jurgen Klopp’s options currently stay at the club, Phillips won’t see much game time next season.
In that sense, a loan may appeal. Give him a full season of Premier League experience while balancing the options out.
However, there’s no guarantee that the situation will have changed much in a year’s time. Virgil Van Dijk will still be immovable as the first-choice option and Ibrahima Konate will likely be even better.
Matip will have just a year remaining on his deal but should still be around, while Joe Gomez is reportedly in-line for a new deal and is younger than Phillips.
Balancing the books
With Liverpool now going big on Darwin Nunez this summer, they’ll need to recoup some of the fee.
There could be further investment in the shape of a new midfielder. Moving on players on the fringes of the squad, like Phillips, is crucial in raising funds.
After a good half-season in the Championship, Phillips is one of their most saleable assets.
A sale at this stage would appear to make sense for all involved. Phillips is capable of playing in the Premier League, he was so good for Liverpool in fact that Jurgen Klopp called him ‘exceptional’ via liverpoolfc.com in October 2021.
He deserves to find himself a full-time home rather than another stop-gap solution.