Nathaniel PHILLIPS: 2021/22 (on loan at Bournemouth)

Happy for him to stay. Quality is not an issue for the odd game here or there. Surprised with the length of the deal though.

Makes sense keeping him around for a bit,he filled a gaping hole last season when injuries hit,playing Fab at CB is not ideal,so keeping plenty of depth especially as Matip and Gomez are a bit injury prone is a no brainer.
That assumes the lad is happy with this!

If they work on a year by year basis and the bids they expected never materialised maybe it was the best idea.

Doesn’t bother me too much but eithier way I know unlike last year we have a guy who can fill in.

Suppose whoever wanted him was willing to see if they could nab him with 18 months left and much cheaper.

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Glad he got a new contract.

Deserved

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See this is false economy to me. Barring an absolute catastrophe dwarfing even last seasons he’ll never play enough now to get back to this value this summer again. So whatever was offered this summer by the highest bidder is almost certainly the highest value we would ever have had a chance to recover for him. Seems very cutting our nose off to spite out face and feels very much like what we did with Wilson. We ended up keeping him an extra year and despite impressing on loan that year we still made less off a sale to a championship club than we rejected the summer before from a Premier League side. I’d say that us and Wilson suffered because of that. We could have had more money a year earlier, maybe even bought in CB cover, and Wilson could have spent last year and this getting settled at a Premier League side instead of on loan at one Championship side and then sold to another.

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We also have to remember, Nat has never played alongside Virgil OR Matip in a serious game
He may prove to be a world beater with someone experienced at his side :0))

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We don’t know that because we don’t know what bids where made, if any at all?

Also, if he doesn’t play for us, that will most likely be because our first 4 CBs are fit and keeping clean sheets. Clubs on the lookout for a CB in January or next summer will bear that in mind.

I would also caution against jumping to conclusions that the failure to sell Wilson last year or Nat this summer led to us not to make a signing. The amount the club actually receive from each of those two theoretical sales in the first year isn’t that great, and so probably isn’t enough to make a deal happen that wouldn’t be done anyway.

Would you rather train and play Carabao Cup games with Liverpool or play every week in the Championship or for a team desperately trying to avoid relegation?

Different players will make a different choice on that, but I certainly don’t mind Phillips staying as cover and I don’t begrudge him the financial security his performance down the stretch last season deserves

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Not that it provides any factual context, but Pearce reported that Phillips was told the morning of the deadline day he was going to move. Pearce then added “things can change fast”.

I love Nat as a player and I respect what he did for our club, my posting history backs that up, but this contract extension, of 5 years (?) was an odd one for me.

The 5 years protects the value of the player and it’s probably seen as a golden handshake for his contribution last season.

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Which journalist really knows our transfer business nowadays anyway


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I’m guessing the manager also seems something in him worth having. It’s probably going to end up being an either him or Davies situation, given how close their ages are.

The club seemed happy to let him go but no one was interested, no surprise really.

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The 5yr deal surely strengthens Nats negotiating hand when other clubs come in for him

Maybe that was why he got it

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More like no one was willing to meet the valuation we probably have for him, especially when his contract was running down. I do wonder how much damage lack of playing time will have on his eventual price valuation?

Nat was 6/7/8 choice last season. In fact, not even that. He was there as a U23 experienced player to help the youngsters’ team.

Circumstances meant he played 20 odd games. Helped us to qualify for the Champions League as a backup to a backup standard player. More than deserves a new contract if Klopp decided to keep him here longer as a backup to a backup role.

The qualification to the CL alone will help cover these wages. And if Matip/VVD/Gomex suffer some sort of relapse, we know he can step up. Allows other players to go on loan as well. All in all, I have no qualms at all over his new deal.

It’s not all about future theoretical transfer fees. He is here to be part of the first team backup in a position where we have suffered an inordinate amount of injuries. He now knows the system, and the other players know that if/when he plays, it will involve having a deeper defence, etc, etc.

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Have we ever sold a player under Klopp who extended his contract the summer before?

Think we have sorted our CB area for the next two summers.

Went into last season with 3 senior CBs - now we have 5. Lesson learnt.

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Yes, we’ve gone from famine to feast at CB. I can’t complain because the club have done exactly what I hoped they would do which is keep him around until at least Jan while we see how the injured CBs are doing. Once bitten, twice shy situation. I don’t begrudge him the pay rise either. It’s the least he deserves. I’m just surprised at the length of the contract extension. 4 years is a long time if he doesn’t end up playing and no club meets his valuation.

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Was away this weekend - in Southampton - and saw a bloke who fucking looked the spit of Nat.

Likely I honestly thought it’s was him.

Then thought na he’d be training, but then thought international dates so it could have been him.

Guess we’ll never know

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