Are West Ham the unnamed club who have made a lowball offer for Liverpool centre-back Nat Phillips?
Sky Sports reported last night that an unnamed Premier League club have lodged a £7 million bid for the 24-year-old Liverpool defender.
The Reds allegedly rejected that bid and are holding out for closer to £15 million.
The Hammers desperately need to sign a top-class centre-back before the January transfer window closes having lost Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma to long-term injuries.
Liverpool ace Nat Phillips is someone who has been heavily linked with a move to the London Stadium over the past few months by the likes of The Evening Standard, The Sun and The Athletic.
On face value, the towering 6ft 3in centre-back possesses all of the attributes that David Moyes looks for in a centre-back.
And with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp allegedly prepared to let him leave Anfield this summer, surely West Ham owners will make their move soon. Or perhaps they’ve made it already?
West Ham bid rejected for Nat Phillips?
Sky Sports suggest that the Reds are holding out for £15 million for the 24-year-old defender. It is claimed that the Merseyside outfit have just rejected a £7 million bid for Phillips from an unnamed Premier League club.
And we believe that that bid might just have come from West Ham. We have history of making lowball offers for players…it’s been in our DNA since David Sullivan and David Gold took charge of the club back in 2010.
If it is the Hammers who have made the derisory offer for the Liverpool ace, whoever is in charge (Sullivan) needs to have a word with themselves.
Phillips is a top-class Premier League defender and he would be an absolutely brilliant signing for West Ham, that goes without saying.
At 24, Phillips has plenty of years left ahead of him. The Liverpool ace would definitely be a very useful long-term addition for the Hammers.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently described Phillips as ‘unbelievable’ (Liverpool Echo). Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand raved about his display for the Reds at the San Siro last week, labelling Phillips as ‘beautiful’ and ‘Baresi like’ (Daily Mail).
So he clearly has something special about him.
Stats
The 24-year-old dominated the West Ham attack both times we played Liverpool last season.
In 17 Premier League appearances for Liverpool last season, Phillips averaged 1.3 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 4.8 clearances and 0.8 blocks per game. He also won an average of 5.6 aerial duels per match (Who Scored).
Some have questioned Phillips’ passing ability but there is just no evidence to show that he is poor with the ball at his feet. In 17 league outings last season for Liverpool, the centre-back made an average of 65.7 passes per match and recorded a completion rate of 84.2 % (Who Scored).
Signing him really should be a no-brainer for the Hammers.
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Surely we should be making it one of our priorities to sign Phillips this month. An offer of at least £10 million should be lodged, or even £12 million and perhaps then Liverpool would start to negotiate.
A £7 million offer for the 24-year-old is just insulting. And if it was from West Ham, it seems as though we may have the same old problems during the January transfer window.
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