Southampton have made an attempt to sign Nat Phillips from Liverpool today, according to reports. The player has been available all summer.
This comes from the Athletic. They claim that Southampton made a move for Nat Phillips today ahead of the transfer deadline.
The Saints will send Jan Bednarek to Aston Villa, leaving them after a centre-back. Phillips was clearly on their shortlist but Liverpool have said no. The Reds are ‘reluctant to sell’, as per the report.
Southampton will instead push for Duje Caleta-Car, it seems – a player once close to joining Liverpool. Phillips, on the other hand, will remain on Merseyside.
Southampton make Nat Phillips move
Not a shock, this. We can’t blame Southampton for trying at all – Phillips is a very good player – but Liverpool were never going to say yes this late in the day.
The Reds have openly talked about wanting a fifth-choice centre-back at the club. 2020/21 left a lasting effect on staff, where all three senior options went down for the season. It appears there’s now a belief that Liverpool must have five strong options at any given time.
That doesn’t mean Phillips was always going to be that fifth-choice, though. In fact, Rhys Williams was once earmarked for that role. The Liverpool Echo suggested as much at the end of last season.
A lack of movement for Phillips, though, meant Williams left on loan. Another potential option, Sepp van den Berg, departed on his own loan this week, too. It leaves Phillips as the only serious choice.
Liverpool will be okay with that, of course. Jurgen Klopp considers Phillips to be ‘incredible’ and it happy to use him in sizeable games. Whether the player is okay being fifth-choice at the club is another matter.
The suggestion was that Liverpool would accept £10m for Phillips earlier in the summer. Instead, he’ll be at Anfield until at least January – despite Southampton’s attempts.
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