Liverpool’s midfield reshuffle this summer was complicated to say the least.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister arrived early on to kickstart the window, but, after that, the Reds found it very difficult to land their top targets.
Both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia went to Chelsea, which led to the Merseyside club pivoting towards Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch late in the summer.
However, according to Alex Crook, speaking on the Premier League All Access Podcast, there was another player the Reds considered towards the end of the summer.
Indeed, the journalist says that Kalvin Phillips was a player that Liverpool had a look at towards the end of the summer, but, in the end, Phillips decided to have one more crack at getting into the Man City team.
Liverpool looked at Phillips
Crook shared what he knows about the £45m man.
“I think that’s almost nailed on now (that Phillips will leave in January). In fairness, I don’t think City would have stood in his way if he wanted to leave in the summer. I know there was interest late in the window from Liverpool and there were various other Premier League clubs sniffing around as well but he wanted to give himself one more chance to persuade Pep Guardiola that he could feature regularly for the treble winners,” Crook said.
“Obviously, that hasn’t happened. He was in the tunnel at Stamford Bridge last week when I was conducting the post-match interviews he was laughing and joking away with Rico Lewis so clearly he’s managed to maintain an upbeat personality.”
MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES
January move needed
Phillips gave himself one more shot to prove himself at City this season, but, sadly, that hasn’t worked out and now a January move has to be on the cards.
It’s clear for all to see that Phillips won’t be getting the minutes he needs at the Etihad anytime soon, and it would be best for all parties if he moved on now.
Sadly, that move to Anfield is probably off the cards after the arrival of Ryan Gravenberch, but with Newcastle on the hunt for a new midfielder, perhaps St James’ Park could be a good landing spot for Phillips.