West Ham could make a move for Liverpool defender Nat Phillips, according to journalist Dean Jones.
The Hammers have been linked with the 25-year-old before, and Jones says they have kept their eye on him.
Italian outlet Calciomercato recently claimed that Liverpool have made Phillips, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all available for transfer in January.
Talk of Phillips potentially leaving Anfield in the new year comes as no shock, with the Englishman low in Jurgen Klopp’s pecking order.
Currently, the Reds boss has Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez to pick from when assembling his central defence.
Nevertheless, Klopp still seems to like Phillips, describing him as an “incredible” player back in May.
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Speaking to GIVEMESPORT about Liverpool potentially getting rid of Phillips, Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the same window, Jones said: “The strongest interest I guess you could say would be West Ham and Nat Phillips.
“They’ve had a keen eye on him, they’ve had good reports on him and they considered going for him strongly in the summer window. So I can see that one coming around again.”
Phillips’ strongest attribute is probably his heading. The Liverpool man is 6 ft 3 so is quite effective in the air.
Back in the 2020/21 season, he won 5.6 aerial duels per league game, which was the highest average in the Reds’ squad (via WhoScored).
Alongside Kurt Zouma, who won 3.6 aerial duels on average for Chelsea in the same campaign, Phillips could form part of a very physical and dominant central defence at the London Stadium.
He has not played too many Premier League games in his career, which is understandable given the competition at Liverpool, but he does at least have some experience in the division.
Ultimately, if David Moyes does want to sign a new centre-back in January, then bringing in someone like Phillips makes sense.
As already mentioned, he is strong in the air, familiar with English football and should not cost too much given that Liverpool are seemingly looking to get him off of their books.
The Hammers already have the likes of Zouma, Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd, so Phillips is not going to arrive as an automatic starter. But you would imagine that he would get more opportunities at the London Stadium than what he is currently getting at Anfield.
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Freelance sports journalist covering football for GIVEMESPORT
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