Darren Bent thinks 28-year-old England international would walk into Liverpool’s starting XI

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As the January transfer window draws ever nearer, Liverpool are being linked with a whole host of possible additions.

One of those more regularly put forward as an option for the Reds this winter is Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Having been pretty much frozen out by Pep Guardiola, Phillips looks set to leave the Etihad in the New Year. The 28-year-old won’t be short of options and would be a decent signing for most of the other 19 Premier League sides.

And TalkSPORT pundits Darren Bent and Andy Goldstein have been debating exactly which of these sides Phillips would be best suited to. According to Bent, the England international is more than good enough to play for Liverpool.

“What top clubs does he go in and start? He doesn’t come to Arsenal and start,” the former England striker posed. “Could he go to Liverpool and start? I know it’s Szoboszlai and Mac Allister…” replied Goldstein.

“Endo… He could do,” mused Bent. “See, that would be the best. If he got that option [to join Liverpool], he’d jump at the chance.”

Phillips tipped for Anfield impact

Unfortunately for Phillips, we don’t see any way in which he’s given the chance to join Liverpool in January.

Guardiola may have suggested that he would indeed sell the former Leeds United man to the Reds should the possibility arise.

But we think the Spaniard is bluffing. With Liverpool currently sitting top of the table and set to be a title challenger to City, why would he do that?

Furthermore, it seems incredibly unlikely that the Reds would be keen to bring Phillips in anyway.

He’s a good player and is definitely being wasted under Pep at the minute. But if Liverpool do bring in a defensive midfielder in January, they’d need them to hit the ground running immediately. Given all the football he’s missed in the past 18 months, Phillips probably wouldn’t do that.

And – not to put too finer point on this – but we actually think Bent and Goldstein are probably wrong here.

Phillips may be a better player than Endo, but the Japan international has done a good enough job so far. Liverpool have made it to the top of the table by alternating between he and Mac Allister. For a player like Phillips, we don’t think there’s any need to change that.

At his best, the England man maybe does start ahead of both of those two. But in his situation right now, we’d rather Endo or Macca any day of the week.