Derby County: John Eustace issues clear Nat Phillips transfer stance amid expiring Liverpool contract | OneFootball

Will Phillips return to Pride Park on a permanent basis next season?

Derby County manager John Eustace has admitted that he wants Nat Phillips to stay at Pride Park beyond the end of his loan stint, with a potential permanent deal up for grabs.

The Rams survived on the final day of the 2024-25 Championship season, playing out a goalless draw with another side threatened with the drop in Stoke City, whilst Luton Town's 5-3 defeat at West Brom effectively saved both clubs, as well as Preston North End and Hull City.

Survival looked a big ask at one stage for the Rams, who slumped under Paul Warne until his sacking, but after being headhunted from Blackburn Rovers, Eustace completed the great escape this past weekend - and now he has his sights set on the summer transfer window.

John Eustace wants to sign Nat Phillips permanently for Derby County

It's set to be a big few months for Derby, with owner David Clowes knowing he will need to give Eustace some backing if they are going to rise up the Championship table next season.

Ex-Huddersfield Town chief Leigh Bromby is arriving at the club as the interim Recruitment Lead to work with the existing transfer team, and one of his first ports of call may be to try and get the aforementioned Phillips tied down to a permanent deal.

The 28-year-old joined on loan from Liverpool back in August, but it took him a while to get settled in the first-team picture at Pride Park - it was only in November when he started to get regular starts under Warne, but under Eustace, he has been one of the key players in their end of season resurgence, scoring a late winner against Hull City last weekend to put them in a stronger position for survival.

Out of contract at Anfield this summer, Phillips will almost certainly be departing the Premier League champions, and when asked if he would like to keep the Bolton-born man around, Eustace was straight to the point with his desire.

"Yeah, for sure," Eustace told DerbyshireLive.

"I think he's been outstanding and his performances have been very good. The match-winning header last week was awesome.

"We've slowly got more clean sheets which is great. If you look at the time that we've been here, it's a seven-week program for pre-season, there's been a lot of work put in to get to this stage now where we're very competitive and hard to play against.

"That's been a group effort from the players and understanding their roles and responsibilities. To lose two of the last 11 is a fantastic achievement from where we came in.

"It's just a lot of hard work on the training field really and they've all been very good."

Nat Phillips to Derby County permanently makes sense - other interest will likely follow though

Phillips has never really had a settled time at a club in his career, having been loaned out by Liverpool to five separate clubs, but this summer is finally where he can try and put roots down somewhere else at the age of 28.

The defender was somewhat of a late developer in the professional game, only making his senior debut at the age of 22, but his 20 appearances for Liverpool across the Premier League and Champions League in 2020-21 were supposed to see him kick on as a top flight centre-back - it just never happened though.

Spells at Celtic and Cardiff last season weren't as fruitful as they could have been, but at Derby, Phillips has seemingly found a new home, and it's one that Eustace wants to make a full-time arrangement.

Capology estimate that Phillips has been on a whopping £65,000 a week at Liverpool, and if that is the case, then Phillips will have to significantly lower his demands and expectations this coming summer, but that will be something he will have already considered given the level he has been playing at.