Sven Mislintat is a big fan of Nat Phillips. The German sporting director is currently linked with Liverpool.
Floian Plettenberg claimed on Wednesday that Liverpool could hire Sven Mislintat. The Reds need a new sporting director after Julian Ward’s shock resignation last week. He’ll step down in the summer, putting the club in a tight spot.
Mislintat, who had a difficult spell with Arsenal, is currently with Stuttgart. That means he’s actually experienced with one current Liverpool player, funnily enough.
Nat Phillips spent time on loan with the German side back in 2019/20. Mislintat, who took him to the club, clearly loved working with the centre-back.
“He’s a [Jurgen] Klopp player, through and through,” Mislintat told the Athletic in 2021. “Superb mentality on the training ground, during the game and in the changing room.
“He was everything we wanted. He was very popular, a really important factor for us with his quality as a defender, his spirit and friendship. We would always take him back, with open arms.”
Sven Mislintat loves Nat Phillips
This is an interesting one because as Plettenberg says in his Tweet, Mislintat has a great relationship with Klopp. The pair worked together for years at Borussia Dortmund during a very successful period for the club.
Thus he knows exactly what the current Liverpool boss likes. Klopp is openly a big fan of Phillips, keeping him at the club even though he doesn’t really play very often.
Mislintat quite clearly thinks along the same lines as Klopp. It’s a good sign, if Liverpool do make him their new sporting director. They’d be hiring someone who knows how to work with the manager and is on the same page. Michael Edwards and Julian Ward are the same, of course, and losing both of them risks bringing a lack of cohesion in the Reds’ recruitment.
Mislintat, then, would bring some of that at the very least. He knows what Klopp wants in a player – Phillips is proof of that.
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