Nat Phillips is facing an uncertain future as he gets set to return to Liverpool this summer. The defender’s brief tenure at Parkhead ended disappointingly, highlighted by a critical own goal in a surprising 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock on before Christmas. This incident significantly impacted his chances of extending his stay with the Scottish champions.
After the match at Rugby Park, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers decided not to continue with Phillips for the squad’s final five games of the year, signaling a premature end to his involvement with the team. His stint at Celtic saw him make just three starts in eight appearances, a period marked by high hopes but limited opportunities to make a significant impact.
Phillips joined Celtic late in the August transfer window amid the club’s injury woes, with key players like Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki sidelined. His arrival was seen as a stopgap measure to bolster the defence. Despite the less-than-ideal outcome. After cutting ties with Celtic in January, Liverpool fired Phillips straight out to Cardiff, but they failed to hit their playoff place target.
“Football is a game of a lot of uncertainty generally, anyway,” Phillips told The Liverpool Echo. “You tend to find you make one plan and something else comes along. I’ve learnt throughout my career to just sit back and let things unfold because it doesn’t really matter how much you try and worry about it or influence it, a lot of things are out of your control.”
When asked about his future prospects and the possibility of returning to the Championship, where regular playtime could be more feasible, Phillips was open to the idea. “I’d certainly consider it. I want to continue playing regular football and enjoying my football,” he said.
Despite the setbacks at Celtic, Phillips remains committed and optimistic about future opportunities. As Phillips returns to Liverpool, he’s likely going to be moving again, before August.
The problem Celtic have is who identifys players like Philips & Duffy, neither was up to the challenge, I think their ability was also noted at their parent clubs, where both were nit required.
These two are not the only players who are wrong for Celtic, Ajeti etc were seriously lacking in what they were signed to do, so my question and concern is who is scouting these players.
Whoever scouts and signs them are the parties at fault.