Jurgen Klopp has hinted that Nat Phillips’ long-term Liverpool future will be assessed this summer. The Reds defender has enjoyed a season to remember in the first-team, making 19 appearances in total to cover for a raft of major injuries to the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
Jurgen Klopp said: “I am very pleased for Nat, very pleased, I love the boy. If he really makes it or not, let’s sort it out after the Crystal Palace game. So just let’s just finish the season and if you want I can write a book about both boys. About Nat and about Rhys, no problem. Let’s at least play this game, let the boys stay focused, let them recover, all these kinds of things and we can talk about all these kinds of things after it. I promise you an interview if you want and I can answer your questions then!”
Goals from Roberto Firmino, Phillips and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain mean Liverpool will be in the Champions League next season if they beat Crystal Palace on Sunday and Leicester fail to win against Tottenham by four goals or more.
Jurgen Klopp added: “It was a really mature performance. It was not a world-class start at the beginning, let me say it like this. We were nervous with our passing, but after 15 minutes we found our feet back and we played some really good football. We missed the two biggest chances of the game at the beginning but we scored a wonderful goal, the second goal from Nat was outstanding skill from Sadio and a great header and the third goal was Oxlade at his best. It looks like the timing is right but it is not done yet. The way Burnley went for our centre-halves with the way they played it is so tricky to defend and the boys did really well. We needed each single performance on the pitch.”
