West Brom strongly interested in deal for Liverpool player ahead of Anfield exit | OneFootball

The Baggies are one of a number of second tier clubs looking at the 28-year-old.

Liverpool centre-half Nathaniel Phillips is a player that West Bromwich Albion, among a high volume of Championship clubs, are interested in.

Relegation battle aside, Phillips had a stellar season last time out with Derby County. His season-long loan spell away from Anfield got him more regular minutes than he would've got with his parent club, or indeed more than what he got in his previous temporary stay with a second-tier side - Cardiff City.

32 appearances, five clean sheets and one very important goal against Hull City later, Phillips helped the Rams stave off the drop and is now wanted by a number of County's divisional rivals, West Brom being chief among them.

West Brom keen on signing Nat Phillips from Liverpool

According to The Athletic, Albion are "strongly interested" in Phillips, who is currently set to leave Liverpool this summer when his contract expires. This won't be a one-horse race for Ryan Mason, though, but one of the teams that might not be in with a chance of landing the defender is Derby.

The Rams may be priced out of a deal for their former loanee because of his wage demands, as per Derbyshire Live. Phillips, who has Champions League appearances to his name from his time with the Reds, is estimated by Capology to have been on a £65,000 per week deal.

Prior to his time at Pride Park and the Cardiff City Stadium, he also had loan spells with Celtic, AFC Bournemouth and Stuttgart.

Centre-back additions should be an early summer task for West Brom to tick off

Mason will be slightly shorter of players in the 28-year-old's position than his predecessor, Tony Mowbray, was. Semi Ajayi will leave The Hawthorns this summer, alongside Grady Diangana and John Swift, following a six-year stint with the club.

Without the Nigerian, West Brom only have two members of their main 2024/25 squad - Kyle Bartley and Torbjorn Heggem - who can do a job in the middle of defence. That number, however, doesn't include the returning Caleb Taylor, who had a stellar loan spell with Wycombe Wanderers in League One last term.

There's a good chance that Taylor, given the campaign he has just had, helping the Chairboys to a play-off finish, will be part of the new Albion boss' plans for next season, potentially creating a very interesting partnership between him and Heggem.

Still, reinforcing this area of the pitch is a must for the Baggies' recruitment department this summer. If one of them were to get injured at any point, they would have nobody left in reserve to cover for any future issues with fatigue or form. Phillips, then, is a strong option for them to look at.