Liverpool are about to loan out ‘incredible’ 26-year-old again in January

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Liverpool are set to send Nat Phillips back out on-loan when he returns from Celtic in January.

Phillips looked to have bagged himself a good move when he joined the Scottish champions back in September.

However, things haven’t gone well for the centre-back in Glasgow. Having made just four starts for Brendan Rodgers’ team, The Athletic report that Phillips will return to Liverpool in the New Year.

From there, it’s claimed that the 26-year-old is then ‘likely’ to head back out for the second half of the season. The Reds are said to be ready to ‘consider’ offers for Phillips.

Interest from Middlesbrough during the summer window is mentioned, but there’s no further suggestion of where the defender could be heading.

Phillips set for loan number two

The way that Phillips’ move to Celtic has panned out has been incredibly disappointing.

Had the former Bolton Wanderers man done well North of the border, perhaps a permanent transfer could have been on the cards. For Phillips himself more than anything, that would have been brilliant.

He clearly has no long-term future at Liverpool. But to move to another enormous club, playing European football would surely have been a dream scenario.

Instead, Phillips’ stay at Celtic Park has slowly turned into a nightmare.

The one silver lining for the defender could have been that coming back to Liverpool offered a slim chance of playing time.

With Joel Matip injured, there is potentially an opening in central defence for the Reds. But with Jurgen Klopp seemingly happy to see him leave again, that door also looks to be closed for Nat.

Where he goes from here is now really important. At 26, Phillips is far from being a young player anymore. He may have once been described as ‘incredible’ by Klopp for his part in Liverpool’s 2020/21 resurgence [Sky Sports], but that was three years ago, too.

Celtic could have been, maybe should have been the kickstart his career badly needed. Having failed to take his chance with the Hoops though, Phillips is back to square one.

At this stage a Championship loan would maybe be the way forward. But there’s also a very real possibility that Phillips will find himself harpooned at Anfield for the rest of the season again. It’s happened before. A big window beckons for Nat, let’s hope he gets what he needs.