Danny Murphy is ‘surprised’ Nat Phillips didn’t end up at Newcastle United with Bournemouth winning the race for Liverpool’s Premier League back-up, speaking to talkSPORT (31 January, 12.30pm).
Remember when a fresh-faced John O’Shea waltzed past Luis Figo with a nutmeg that spawned a thousand grainy gifs?
Well, as Liverpool’s second-string secured a creditable 2-1 win away at AC Milan in December, Nat Phillips produced an ‘O’Shea moment’ all of his own.
Leaving Zlatan Ibrahimovic bamboozled with the most daring of roulettes inside his own penalty area, the so-called ‘Bolton Baresi’ showed just how far he had come in 12 months as a Liverpool player.
It’s easy to forget that 24-year-old had only emerged as a first-team player at Anfield a few months earlier. He had an almost unprecedented injury crisis to thank for that, too.
Now, he was making Zlatan Ibrahimovic look silly on the Champions League stage.
For the rest of the season, however, Phillips’ focus will be on the Championship rather than the Champions League. Promotion-chasing Bournemouth secured the granite-carved centre-back on loan in a deadline day deal.
Should Newcastle have signed Liverpool’s Nat Phillips?
“Reliable, powerful, decent player,” says Murphy, the former Anfield favourite.
“He did really well when he came in for Liverpool. I’m actually surprised Newcastle didn’t go in for him. They needed bodies in the middle, at the back.
“I think that’s a good signing for Bournemouth.”
Newcastle were actually linked with a move for the £15 million-rated Phillips earlier in January. But their interest appeared to dry up as the window went on.
In the end, after failing to convince Sevilla and Lille to part with Diego Carlos and Sven Botman, Dan Burn became Eddie Howe’s only centre-back signing of the window.
Will the former Brighton giant be enough to save the division’s second-most porous side from the perils of Preston on a Tuesday night? Only time will tell.
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