Nathaniel Phillips
Nathaniel Harry Phillips (born 21 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for AFC Bournemouth, on loan from Premier League club Liverpool.
![]() Phillips with AFC Bournemouth in 2022 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Nathaniel Harry Phillips[1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 21 March 1997||
Place of birth | Bolton, England | ||
Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.90 m)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Centre-back[3] | ||
Club information | |||
Current team |
AFC Bournemouth (on loan from Liverpool) | ||
Number | 2 | ||
Youth career | |||
200?–2016 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
2016–2019 | Liverpool | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2019– | Liverpool | 17 | (1) |
2019–2020 | → VfB Stuttgart (loan) | 19 | (0) |
2022– | → AFC Bournemouth (loan) | 15 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:07, 1 May 2022 (UTC) |
Career
Early career
In 2016, Phillips left Bolton Wanderers' academy and trained at Huddersfield Town after he secured a scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.[5] Two days before his planned flight to the United States, he joined Liverpool's academy instead.[6][7]
Liverpool
In the summer of 2018 Phillips started to train with Liverpool's first team and became a member of Jürgen Klopp's squad[8] but still played for the reserve team.
On 31 October 2020, Phillips made his league debut for the club, starting in Liverpool's 2–1 win over West Ham United.[9][10] On 10 March 2021, Phillips made his Champions League debut, putting in a man of the match performance in a 2–0 win over RB Leipzig, and helping Liverpool advance to the quarter finals 4–0 on aggregate.[11]
Phillips scored his first goal for the club on 19 May 2021, scoring a headed goal and Liverpool's second of the game during a 3–0 away win over Burnley in the Premier League and with it, another man of the match award.[12] The following season, Phillips played in Liverpool's 2–1 win against AC Milan at the San Siro to complete the Champions League group stage with six wins.[13] Days later it was revealed Phillips suffered a fractured cheekbone during the game.[14] With game-time limited in the 2021-22 season, Nat Phillips admitted to being ready to leave the club in the January transfer window.[15]

VfB Stuttgart (loan)
In 2019, he moved to German second-division club VfB Stuttgart on loan for the season.[16][17] He made his professional debut for Stuttgart in the first round of the 2019–20 DFB-Pokal, coming on as a half-time substitute for Holger Badstuber in the away match against 3. Liga club Hansa Rostock.[18] Phillips made his first appearance in the 2019–20 2. Bundesliga on 17 August 2019 against FC St. Pauli.[19] On 27 December 2019, Liverpool announced that Phillips would be recalled from his loan on 1 January 2020 because of a defender injury crisis at his parent club.[20] Twelve days later, after making his first team debut for Liverpool on 5 January 2020 in an FA Cup third round match against Everton, he was loaned back to VfB Stuttgart for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.[21][22]
AFC Bournemouth (loan)
On 31 January 2022, he joined AFC Bournemouth on loan until the end of the season.[23] Regarding the move, Klopp commented that "he would have loved to have kept him [at Liverpool]" and that he was "incredibly reliable [and a] great figure here at the training ground".[24] He made his debut for the club in the FA Cup, 0-1 loss to non-league side Boreham Wood.[25] Phillips made his league debut for the club, and his first appearance in the Championship, in a 3-1 victory against Birmingham City.[26]
Personal life
Nathaniel is the son of former footballer Jimmy Phillips and played under him in the Bolton Wanderers academy.[27]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 30 April 2022[28]
Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Liverpool | 2019–20 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2020–21 | Premier League | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | |
2021–22 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||
Total | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | ||
VfB Stuttgart (loan) | 2019–20 | 2. Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 22 | 0 | |||
Liverpool U21 | 2021–22 | — | — | — | — | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Bournemouth (loan) | 2021–22 | Championship | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | ||
Career total | 51 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 1 |
- Appearances in UEFA Champions League
- Appearances in EFL Trophy
References
- "Premier League clubs publish 2019/20 retained lists". Premier League. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- "Nathaniel Phillips: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- "Nathaniel Phillips: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- "Nathaniel Phillips". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- "Phillips turns down U.S. college scholarship for shot with Liverpool". ESPN. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- "How Liverpool youngster came back from the brink to seal dream move to Reds". Liverpool Echo. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- "Bolton Wanderers Youngster Nat Phillips Joins Liverpool". The Lion Of Vienna Suite. 10 August 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- "Liverpool's 'hidden' pre-season star". Daily Mirror. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- "Liverpool go top after Jota winner". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- "Who is Phillips, Liverpool's man thrown in the deep end?" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- "Liverpool cruise into quarters as Sadio Mané and Salah cut down Leipzig again". Guardian. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
- "Liverpool into top four after Burnley win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- "Liverpool beat Milan for perfect group stage record". BBC. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- "Nat Phillips set for spell out with cheekbone fracture". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- "Nat Phillips reveals he wants to leave Liverpool in January due to a lack of game time". Sky Sports. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- "Nathaniel Phillips signs new Liverpool contract and joins Stuttgart on loan". Liverpool FC. 7 August 2019.
- "VfB sign Liverpool defender Phillips". vfb.de. VfB Stuttgart. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- "Hansa Rostock – VfB Stuttgart 0:1 (DFB-Pokal 2019/2020, 1. Round)". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- "VfB Stuttgart – FC St. Pauli 2:1". dfb.de. German Football Association. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- "Nat Phillips returns from Stuttgart loan". Liverpool FC. 27 December 2019.
- "Nathaniel Phillips returns to Stuttgart on loan". Liverpool FC. 13 January 2020.
- "Reds were 'sensationally good' - Klopp" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- "AFC BOURNEMOUTH COMPLETE SIGNING OF NAT PHILLIPS". AFC Bournemouth. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- "Jurgen Klopp: I would've loved to have kept Nat Phillips". Daily Echo. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- "AFC Bournemouth 0-1 Boreham Wood". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- "AFC Bournemouth 3-1 Birmingham City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
- "Decade XI: Remembering those we never saw". 17 December 2019.
- "N. Phillips". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
External links
- Profile at the Liverpool F.C. website
- Nathaniel Phillips – UEFA competition record (archive)