Nat Phillips

[Fredo]

We might not be selling but he might want to go to get first team football.

[RedAndWhite]

People in here seeming happy with 10/15M when Harry Maguire cost 85M

[Scratch]

People in here seeming happy with 10/15M when Harry Maguire cost 85M

I would so love Klopp to come out with a statement like that when the first paltry 15m bid comes in.

He won't, cos he's too classy, but it would fun to watch Red Cafe explode.

[Exiled_red]

The reasons Maguire went for that kind of money were he was hyped up by the UK press, he was a 'star' of England's 'successful' World Cup and was regarded as one of the countries best defenders, he had a good few years of top flight experience, Man Utd are a top club with alot of money and Leicester didn't want to sell. All this combined to produce a stupidly large fee. Most/all of those don't apply to Phillips

[danperkins]

The reasons Maguire went for that kind of money were he was hyped up by the UK press, he was a 'star' of England's 'successful' World Cup and was regarded as one of the countries best defenders, he had a good few years of top flight experience, Man Utd are a top club with alot of money and Leicester didn't want to sell. All this combined to produce a stupidly large fee. Most/all of those don't apply to Phillips

[RedAndWhite]

The reasons Maguire went for that kind of money were he was hyped up by the UK press, he was a 'star' of England's 'successful' World Cup and was regarded as one of the countries best defenders, he had a good few years of top flight experience, Man Utd are a top club with alot of money and Leicester didn't want to sell. All this combined to produce a stupidly large fee. Most/all of those don't apply to Phillips

While I agree, and yes there is a certain bias on my behalf, my point isn't entirely invalid. Maguire may be over priced, but i think that by the same measure Phillip at 10/15M is underpriced. He has shown as much this season given his relatively limited game time so far as Maguire had/has - again insert bias here - so to want rid for such a low price makes no sense.

Even looking at the improvement in the player himself in the time he has been in the first team shows there is still room to improve, and while he may never be a first team player he is solid squad player and one who I doubt we could readily replace for the same amount.

[Exiled_red]

I don't doubt Maguire was over priced, to be honest I have no idea where Phillips true value lies but a big part of the present market. Two big factors in any transfer are the situations of the selling and buying club. If the player is a first team player at the selling club there will be a reluctance to sell which pushes the price up. This applies to Maguire but won't apply to Phillips. Similarly the situation of the buying club affects price, if you are selling to us, Man Utd etc you will ask more than from a Burnley or Newcastle type club. Was it Jamal Lewis who went to Newcastle for alot less than they were willing to sell to us for? They see the bigger clubs as having deeper pockets and it's a chance to get more money and to be fair Leicester did it fantastically with Maguire.

[frank the tank]

I think both opinions are true.

In reality, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see Nat Phillips go to a Burnley or a Newcastle for 10 to 15mil and then move on again in a year or so to a Villa / Leicester / Arsenal / Everton for something like 40 mil. Edwards et al will know this a lot more than us and will therefore probably cover the bases with things like performance related add-ons and sell-on clauses.

It also wouldn't be a surprise to see him stay at LFC and not play that much.....and end up not progressing as a player and ending up in the championship at the end of it.

In reality he has a short career and he would probably be best advised to do something this summer to get a bit of a pay hike while his stock is high. I am not sure what his wage is now but if he moved to another premier league club, then surely it is likely he will at least double his money. His agent should be pushing for a pay rise anyway.

I think he might end up leaving in part-exchange for another player. Someone like Tielemens would be great!!!

[Paul12]

I think a big part of the make-up of player is belief in oneself. Nat will feel he has proved, and can continue to prove, people wrong. So he will want to stay because he feels that, despite others getting fit and purchases, he will get enough games to make it worth staying. Only proof to the contrary will cause him to want to move.

The club will not want to sell this summer because there is too much uncertainty about the injured players.

Maybe though at Xmas when (a) he has seen he is not getting enough games and (b) some struggling team thinks his defending can keep them up.

[frank the tank]

I think a big part of the make-up of player is belief in oneself. Nat will feel he has proved, and can continue to prove, people wrong. So he will want to stay because he feels that, despite others getting fit and purchases, he will get enough games to make it worth staying. Only proof to the contrary will cause him to want to move.

The club will not want to sell this summer because there is too much uncertainty about the injured players.

Maybe though at Xmas when (a) he has seen he is not getting enough games and (b) some struggling team thinks his defending can keep them up.

agree..... but lets say he is on 10k per week at Liverpool......and someone comes in and offers 35k a week......then he will want a hike at Liverpool. And his agent wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't go back to them and said "you are paying him as a back-up / development player but now he deserves to be a first team squad player"

If there is an offer of 15m on the player, then LFC will leave it up to the player in my opinion

[baitman]

If we were to sell him for 15-20m then any replacement we were to buy in for similar money would be covered in question marks.
Id sooner we stuck with what we had and paid him a more realistic wage.
We dont know how well gomez, vvd and matip will return from injuries so we need a decent quality back up that won't be a massive step down in quality.

[frank the tank]

If we were to sell him for 15-20m then any replacement we were to buy in for similar money would be covered in question marks.
Id sooner we stuck with what we had and paid him a more realistic wage.
We dont know how well gomez, vvd and matip will return from injuries so we need a decent quality back up that won't be a massive step down in quality.

agree completely - just not sure LFC will agree too

[Doc_Piptorious]

Think it is win win whether he stays or goes.

He stays and we have a 5th choice CB that whilst being a big drop off in quality from three, if not all four, of those ahead of him, can still come in and do a job if we are stuck.

He goes and we get a much bigger fee for him than we would have last summer. Any fee from 15m to 25m would not surprise me for him.

[Zapater]

Let's assume that Gomez, Virgil and Matip will return to some semblance of fitness. That means that we still have Konate ahead of him. He's above Davies and Williams in the pecking order. I think that Williams should be loaned out, but as it stands we have 7 players to fill 2 positions. That's excluding Fabinho who is a pretty good central defender himself. As injury prone as Gomez and Matip are, this is a freak season and it surely won't happen again.

Let go and use the cash towards Wijnaldam's replacement or another attacker. His stock will never be this high again and he'll rarely play outside of the domestic cups.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Let's assume that Gomez, Virgil and Matip will return to some semblance of fitness. That means that we still have Konate ahead of him. He's above Davies and Williams in the pecking order. I think that Williams should be loaned out, but as it stands we have 7 players to fill 2 positions. That's excluding Fabinho who is a pretty good central defender himself. As injury prone as Gomez and Matip are, this is a freak season and it surely won't happen again.

Let go and use the cash towards Wijnaldam's replacement or another attacker. His stock will never be this high again and he'll rarely play outside of the domestic cups.

Fifth choice is as good as it gets for him next season. He is well below the four above him in quality so he will need for three CBs to be out to get a game.

He turns 25 before the coming season ends so is going to boil down to whether he wants to be a ressie again at 25 (barring another season with a freak amount of injuries at the same time) or use his current enhanced profile to get a starting berth as a smaller club along with a big hike in wages.


As said earlier, it is win win for the club. He stays and the club keeps a low wage back up option that can fill in in a pinch.

He goes and the club gets a decent fee where they once would not have done so.