Liverpool defender Nathaniel Phillips was on the winning 5-a-side team during today’s training session in Dubai.
The 25-year-old has long been linked with a move away from the Reds, but still he remains. And as per Liverpool FC on Twitter, Phillips has been showing up in training.
The centre-back came out on top alongside Adrian, Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas and Mohamed Salah.
Having failed to earn himself a move during the summer, Phillips has only played three times this season. With no prospect of a jump up the pecking order, he’s likely to be on the market again in January.
Phillips still slogging away at Liverpool
It really is amazing that Phillips is still a Liverpool player. Not because he isn’t good enough, although some would argue that he isn’t. Rather, because he’s been touted around the whole football world for the past three-and-a-half years.
In that time, the defender has amassed less than 70 games. For a player who will turn twenty-six in March, that simply isn’t enough.
It’s hard to know what went wrong for Phillips. He was exceptional during Liverpool’s injury-hit season of 2020/21.
Jurgen Klopp told Sky Sports that he was ‘incredible,’ and he was. There should have been a queue of clubs lining up to take him.
Instead, he had to sit on his hands before joining Bournemouth on-loan in January. Having helped the Cherries win promotion, a move also looked likely last summer.
And yet, no one firmed up any interest in the former Bolton man. There was at least a surprise Premier League start this season, but that was only thanks to another momentary injury crisis.
If he’s not careful, Phillips could end up losing out on the best years of his career. That would be a real shame. Let’s hope someone gives him a route out of Liverpool in January.
As for that 5-a-side team, you can’t help but feel they were over-reliant on Salah for the goals. Two left-backs, a fifth choice centre-back and a third choice ‘keeper? How bad were the other teams!
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