Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants to hold onto defender Nat Phillips next season but the club are also preparing themselves for the worst-case scenario, as per The Daily Mail.
The report claims: “Liverpool will ask bidding teams to stump up £15million for defender Nat Phillips this summer, should he ask to leave.
“Jurgen Klopp is keen to keep the 24-year-old on board following a successful 2020-21 campaign in which he was thrust into the limelight due to injury crisis.
“But the Reds understand that interest in the centre back is now high given the composure he showed at Premier League level, and have already been contacted by Burnley about his availability.”
Will Nat Phillips exit Liverpool?
The defender was thrust into the limelight last season due to all the injuries at Liverpool. But Klopp will have all the injured defenders back and to add even more competition, he has also signed Ibrahima Konate.
So with his spot in the first-team squad in doubt, Phillips has already dropped a hint that he will have a talk with the management about his future role at the club.
“I think the situation is, initially they didn’t anticipate me having the season and putting in the performances that I did do,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “Maybe where they might have thought I was just going to do a job and then they would be able to sell me and I would move on, now they’re having second thoughts. I’m not sure.
“I still need to have the conversations with them and just see if there is a role for me there and what role they would want me to play.
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“It would depend on if they saw a role for me at Liverpool and then what role that would be. I would have to decide what is best for myself off the back of that.”
Apart from Burnley, Brighton are also keeping tabs on the 24-year-old and with a £15 million price tag, we don’t see Nat Phillips staying at Liverpool beyond the summer.
Brighton defender Ben White is wanted by a series of top Premier League clubs and if he is on his way out then someone like Nat Phillips can be the perfect replacement for just £15m.
Liverpool have a number of top centre-backs at their disposal right now so it makes no sense to hold onto Phillips. Klopp would much rather cash in on him and use that money elsewhere.
