West Ham are interested in signing Liverpool defender Nat Phillips in January
According to Evening Standard, West Ham United are keen on luring Liverpool defender Nat Phillips in the winter transfer window to cover the loss of Kurt Zouma.
The centre-back got the chance to play a considerable amount of games last season, thanks to the Reds’ defensive crisis. The British defender helped Liverpool get the Champions League qualification and also enhanced his reputation in the process.
However, his services became less required this season after the return of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip. Furthermore, The Merseyside team signed Ibrahima Konaté in the summer transfer window to further bolster the defensive options.
Being the fifth choice defender has so far limited the 24-year-old’s opportunities this season. The Bolton ace has only featured in just four matches this season. Nevertheless, his lack of game time at Liverpool has alerted West Ham, who are in search of a defender in the market.
Hammers defender Kurt Zouma recently suffered a hamstring injury and has been ruled out from top-flight action for up to 12 weeks. This has prompted David Moyes’s team to look for alternatives in the market.
It is believed that they have shortlisted Liverpool’s Nat Phillips as a possible replacement and are eyeing to lure him in the January transfer window.
Jurgen Klopp suffered a horrible injury crisis last season. The German manager had to play many different centre-back pairings to cover up for the losses. The Merseyside team secured the top 4. However, it became clear that the Reds would need to take action in order to avoid such a crisis. In such a case, they signed Konate.
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Nevertheless, this season all the Liverpool defenders are fit and available. Thus, last season’s disaster has become a luxury for Klopp. On the other side, the availability of all the main centre backs has cut down the game time for Nat.
The British player had a brave performance against AC Milan last night and proved his worth to Jurgen Klopp. While it remains to be seen if he will remain at the club or not, retaining Phillips will give Klopp extensive strength in depth in a key area of the squad.
