At the end of December, VfB and Liverpool brought a premature end to the centre-back’s loan which had begun in August, due to last season’s Champions League winners being tight on squad numbers. The two clubs agreed, however, that they would look into a new loan for the player, and this has now come to fruition.
Phillips made his first-team debut for the Reds in their 1-0 FA Cup win over local rivals Everton on 5 January, but this Monday he was on a plane to VfB’s training camp in Marbella, where he will link up with his Stuttgart team-mates to prepare for the forthcoming Bundesliga 2 and DFB Cup assignments. To date, the 22-year-old has featured in nine league and two cup matches for VfB.
VfB sporting director Sven Mislintat: “We are very pleased that Nathaniel is available straight away to join our team again after his return to Liverpool. We have had and continue to have a very constructive dialogue that is based on mutual trust with our Liverpool counterparts, and this made it possible to find a solution that benefits all sides at the end of the day.”