It might not be ‘Gareth Bale to Nottingham Forest’ territory but one wonders how differently things might have worked out for Nat Phillips had sealed a permanent move to Swansea City in the summer of 2020.
The Swans pulled the plug at the 11th hour and, 18 months later, they are still a Championship club.
And they are likely to remain one too, if the nature of Saturday’s 4-1 thumping by Nottingham Forest is anything to go by.
Just three days after Russel Martin’s Swans went down 1-0 to Middlesbrough, Phillips was bamboozling Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the San Siro with a wonderful roulette reminiscent of John O’Shea’s infamous nutmeg on Luis Figo 20 years ago.
If the so-called ‘Bolton Baresi’ – or Paolo Naldini if you prefer – was playing for almost any other club, he’d be a regular in the starting XI, week-in, week-out.
Unfortunately, he has Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez for competition at Anfield.
If you were wondering why a man who dominated the Serie A giants on their own backyard had not played a single minute of Premier League football this season, that should explain it.
Is Nat Phillips leaving Liverpool?
“The manager and I agree that the best thing for me is to play as many games as possible. I think you saw last year I developed well,” the former Bolton ace told Sky Sports on Wednesday.
‘Developed well’? Talk about an understatement.
If you ask Klopp, only Robert Lewandowski at Borussia Dortmund has blossomed under his management as dramatically as Phillips.
“I’m going to see what comes along (in January) and go from there,” Phillips adds.
“I think at this moment in time it’s unlikely that I’ll be playing lots of games for Liverpool.
“If an opportunity arises where I get the chance to do that somewhere else and it suits everyone then it’s certainly something I’d be interested in.”
Newcastle and West Ham need defenders
Interest in Phillips, with the January window two weeks away, is certainly snowballing. It may even become an avalanche.
The Sun believes that West Ham United are weighing up a winter bid and Phillips would certainly be welcome at the London Stadium, especially now that Kurt Zouma has joined Angelo Ogbonna on the treatment table.
This old-school, granite-carved, kick-his-granny-for-three-points sort of a centre-half is also on the radar of a Newcastle who have conceded more goals than anyone bar Norwich City (Telegraph).
Where Phillips ends up next is anyone’s guess. One things for sure, Swansea could have done with him against Forest…
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