"He would jump at the chance" - Darren Bent talks up Liverpool's reported pursuit of Manchester City star
Former Tottenham Hotspur forward Darren Bent reckons Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips would be eager to join Liverpool in the January transfer window.
Phillips has struggled for game time since signing for Manchester City in the summer of 2022. The England international has made just 30 appearances in total since then, playing just 898 minutes of first-team football.
To make matters worse, Pep Guardiola recently admitted that he has struggled to visualize Phillips in his plans, suggesting the latter no longer has a future at the Etihad.
Liverpool are reportedly interested in signing Phillips in the January transfer window to provide competition for Wataru Endo. The Reds are in the mix to challenge in all competitions this season and could benefit from signing another No. 6.
Bent said (via HITC):
“He is leaving Manchester City in January. Last season, he won the Treble, so his trophy cabinet is stacked. But it has to get to a point where he has to play football. As you said, he just turned 28. He isn’t at the back end of his career because football can now go onto the mid-30s and beyond that."
He added:
“It might be a step-down, not in terms of the size of the club you are playing for. The team you are going to be involved in and the closest one to that is Liverpool because they have the next best manager."
He concluded:
“I enjoyed it when he was at Leeds, a very good player – What top club does he start for? You have Endo, so he could do. If he got that option, then he would jump at the chance.”
Phillips recently made his first Champions League start of the season for Manchester City, helping them secure a 3-2 win against Red Star Belgrade with a penalty in the 85th minute.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp provides injury update on Alexis Mac Allister
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recently provided an in-depth injury update on Alexis Mac Allister, admitting he has never seen such an injury occur to any of his players in the past.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup winner sustained a nasty cut to his knee during the Reds' 2-0 win against Sheffield last Wednesday. Despite attempting to play on, he was forced off early in the second half.
Mac Allister has yet to recover from the knock and has already been ruled out of the Liverpool's next fixtures against Union Saint-Gilloise (December 14) and Manchester United (December 17).
Klopp said (via Liverpool's official website):
“I am obviously not a doctor but they explain it to me pretty much every day why he is not ready yet and it is obviously a bit more tricky than we thought in the first moment. The other boy stepped on his knee and the stud went through pretty much the muscle onto the bone. And now we have to wait until the bone is healed and until Macca can deal with the pain, because it is pretty painful."
He added:
“Macca is actually a super-tough guy so we have probably to make sure just from an infection point of view nothing happens. That’s really important."
He concluded:
“I never had this injury for one of my players before but now we have it. I hope it will not take that long, I would like to say it’s day by day – but that would look like he could maybe play the next game but he will not be ready for that as well. So, I hope the next three or four days he makes big steps and then we will see.”
Mac Allister has made 18 appearances for Liverpool this season, scoring one goal and providing two assists.