Liverpool are going to have to reduce Nat Phillips’ asking price if they’re to get him off the books at Anfield.
Phillips looked all set to leave the club on deadline day yesterday, with a move finally in the works. But a last-minute injury to Ibrahima Konate, on top of Virgil van Dijk’s ongoing issue has led to the 25-year-old going nowhere.
That in itself was a slice of misfortune in a career littered with them up to this point. There’s not much accounting for that, Liverpool need him to stay right at this minute. That’s not a problem.
The problem lies in the four weeks of the window that proceeded this deadline day drama. According to The Athletic, Liverpool have been looking for £10m to let Phillips go.
This is more-or-less a price-tag that has stayed consistent over the last 18-months, despite Phillips featuring sparingly in that time. It might not seem an awful lot to pay for a Premier League level centre-back. But either way, the Reds haven’t had much luck with it so far.
Had Liverpool lowered that previously, they wouldn’t now be stuck with a player who has no future at the club. He may be used in Konate and Van Dijk’s absence, he may be not. Regardless, it’s high-time Liverpool got a better calibre player in, and let Phillips go and kickstart his career elsewhere.
Time to let Phillips go
There’s an argument that had Liverpool not possessed such injury-prone centre-backs, Phillips would have moved on a while ago.
When you consider the fact that he’s been openly available for a year-and-a-half though, that clearly becomes a nonsense.
Instead, no one has been willing to meet Liverpool’s asking price. There has reportedly been plenty of interest in Phillips in that time. But with no adequate bids incoming, the Reds have failed to lower it.
At a time when Liverpool are still relying on outgoing transfers to fund incoming ones, this is unhelpful. In their squad right now Phillips is one of the few saleable assets Jurgen Klopp can afford to lose.
As a result, you can understand the club trying to extract full value for him. But as he continues to linger around the squad without playing, how can they expect any club to come in and meet that valuation.
No, it’s time for Liverpool to cut their losses with Phillips. He’s a decent enough player – even being called ‘superb’ by former Stuttgart director of football Sven Mislintat. But it’s clear that he has no long-term future at Anfield. Whatever they can get for him now, it’s better than forcing him to waste his peak years on the bench, at best.
