Liverpool centre-back Nathaniel Phillips 'would appear to tick a few boxes' for Steven Gerrard and Aston Villa, talkSPORT's Alex Crook says.
The lowdown
The Athletic's Gregg Evans says that Gerrard realised soon after taking over at Villa Park that he needed to strengthen the heart of his defence, having allowed Axel Tuanzebe to end his loan spell.
Liverpool are open to selling Phillips during the January transfer window and have set their asking price at £15million. They've already rejected a £7million bid from a top-flight club.
The Englishman, who signed a new contract in August, has only started one match for The Reds in 2021/22 - their final Champions League group stage game away at AC Milan, before which they were already qualified from their group.
The latest
Crook has tipped Gerrard, third all-time in the Reds' appearance list, to make use of his 'Liverpool connections' in a move for the 24-year-old.
"They want a centre-back as well and Nat Phillips is somebody who Liverpool are willing to sell," he told Give Me Sport.
"Obviously, given Steven Gerrard's Liverpool connections, that would be a name that would appear to tick a few boxes."
The verdict
Phillips was heavily involved for Jurgen Klopp's side last season following injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez. He helped them reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League and salvage a third-place finish in the Premier League.
Klopp said Phillips had produced 'absolutely incredible' performances as part of his Premier League 'crash course'.
Despite having played so little, the 6 foot 3 centre-back turned in a dominant display against Milan at the San Siro, winning six of his 11 duels, making four clearances, one block, one tackle, one interception and pinging five successful long balls out of defence (Sofascore).
He also produced a piece of skill in his own penalty area that was viewed 446,100 times on BT Sport's Twitter account, as his 'Cruyff turn' under pressure sent the home team's star player, Franck Kessie, flying to the turf.
He could be a really good pick-up for Villa.
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