West Ham make contact with Liverpool over defender Nat Phillips
West Ham have made contact with Liverpool over their 24-year-old central defender Nathaniel Phillips, according to The Athletic.
Liverpool correspondent James Pearce, writing on the online outlet’s website, claims the Irons have “registered their interest” in recent days, alongside German side Bayer Leverkusen.
The six-time Champions League winners are said to value Phillips at around £15million and are prepared to sanction his sale, should a suitable offer be tabled that suits all parties.
However, no deal is imminent, with the Bolton-born defender still in Jurgen Klopp’s pre-season plans, as underlined by his involvement in Friday’s 1-0 friendly win over Mainz.
Burnley, Brighton and Newcastle United are also credited with an interest in Phillips, who made 20 appearances for Liverpool last season, including three in the Champions League.
Perfect profile
Phillips is young, English and Premier League-proven – the perfect mix of qualities to thrive under David Moyes at the London Stadium.
Moyes has had success with foreign imports like Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, but he’s generally shown a propensity to look to the British market for players with a lot to prove.
Craig Dawson and Jesse Lingard are examples of older players who were desperate to get their careers back on track, while Jarrod Bowen was plucked from the Championship.
Phillips has more experience of the top-flight having made 17 Premier League appearances for the Reds, and while that is not a huge amount of games, playing for an elite-level club like Liverpool will have taught him valuable lessons.
He stepped up admirably to cover the loss of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez to injury, helping the Merseyside outfit to Champions League qualification, but with the trio’s return to fitness, allied to the summer signing of French starlet Ibrahima Konate, Phillips’ days at Anfield look numbered.
After Fabian Balbuena departed the Irons earlier this summer, Moyes is surely on the hunt for a new central defender, and Phillips fits the bill.
£15million is a decent price to pay, and we would be delighted to see him line up at the London Stadium next season.
In other West Ham news, the Irons have tabled a bid for this 23y/o midfielder who scored five Europa League goals last season.