Southampton tried to sign Liverpool centre-back Nat Phillips on deadline day but a move failed to materialise, David Ornstein reports.

The Lowdown: Phillips out of favour

The 25-year-old finds himself well down the centre-back pecking order at Anfield currently, even though he started the recent Premier League draw at home to Crystal Palace.

Phillips will not get in ahead of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez when everyone is fit, so it is hard to see him featuring much in the coming months.

A summer exit was mooted numerous times throughout the window and it looks as though he could have departed Liverpool right at the death on Thursday.

The Latest: Saints made late move

That's according to The Athletic's Ornstein, who took to Twitter to say that Saints attempted to snap him up on deadline day:

"Aston Villa have agreed to sign Jan Bednarek from Southampton on 1yr loan. 26yo centre-back has chosen #AVFC & is heading to medical. #SaintsFC tried for Nat Phillips but Liverpool reluctant, so will pick from 2 other options."

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The Verdict: Bad news for Nat?

Phillips finds himself in a tough situation where he will surely want to be playing regular football, so it is easy to have sympathy for him staying put at Liverpool and not featuring.

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Jurgen Klopp has described the Englishman as 'absolutely insane' in the past, following some heroic performances in 2020/21, but he isn't up to the Reds' standards, as the Palace game showed, when Wilfried Zaha raced behind him opened the scoring.

The hope is that Phillips could seal a move elsewhere in January, potentially filling in for Liverpool now and then before that time, possibly in the Carabao Cup.