James Pearce claims 27y/o powerhouse ‘looks certain to move on’ from Liverpool this summer

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·2 July 2024

James Pearce claims 27y/o powerhouse ‘looks certain to move on’ from Liverpool this summer

James Pearce has named one Liverpool player who looks destined for the exit at Anfield this summer.

Numerous members of Arne Slot’s squad have been linked with moves away from Merseyside, from young prospects like Tyler Morton to established stalwarts such as Luis Diaz and Alisson Becker.

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Many Reds fans will be hoping that the latter two in particular remain at the club, although one man who seems highly unlikely to still be at LFC in the autumn is Nat Phillips.

As reported by Pearce for The Athletic on Tuesday morning, the 27-year-old ‘looks certain to move on’ from Liverpool, having now entered the final 12 months of his contract at Anfield.

Once hailed as a ‘monster in the air‘ by Jurgen Klopp, Phillips earned cult hero status at Liverpool after stepping up commendably during a centre-back injury crisis to help us towards an unlikely third-place finish in the difficult 2020/21 campaign.

However, he’s never been able to truly establish himself at Anfield, having had four loan spells away from the Reds (including two in the past 12 months) and played only 29 senior games for LFC. Jarell Quansah surpassed that tally in the 2023/24 season alone.

There are actually only eight players in Slot’s squad who are older than him, with stalwarts such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alexis Mac Allister and Darwin Nunez all his junior. Indeed, Harvey Elliott is six years younger and is already a far more experienced presence at senior level.

Richard Hughes will surely view this summer as an ideal opportunity to sell Phillips for a decent transfer fee, and we’d be amazed if there weren’t clubs from the Championship or even the bottom half of the Premier League who’d be interested in having him.

Maybe he’ll take us all by surprise and make a big impression on the new boss in pre-season, although a dignified summer exit seems more likely.

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