Nathaniel Harry Phillips (born 21 March 1997) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. Phillips started his professional career at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, had two loan spells at

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, before making his debut for Liverpool in 2020. After his Liverpool debut, he had further loan spells at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

Early life

Nathaniel Phillips was born on 21 March 1997 in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, Greater Manchester.

Career

Early career

In 2016, Phillips left Bolton Wanderers' academy and trained at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

after he secured a scholarship at the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...

. Two days before his planned flight to the United States, he joined Liverpool's academy instead.

Liverpool

In the summer of 2018, Phillips started to train with Liverpool's first team and became a member of

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...

's squad while still playing for the reserve team.

VfB Stuttgart loan and Liverpool recall

In 2019, Phillips moved to German second-division club

on loan for the season. He made his professional debut for Stuttgart in the first round of the

2019–20 DFB-Pokal The 2019–20 DFB-Pokal was the 77th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 9 Au ...

, coming on as a half-time substitute for

Holger Badstuber Holger Felix Badstuber (born 13 March 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or left-back. Badstuber made his debut in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the 2009–10 season, at the age of 19. He played ...

in the away match against

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

club

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

. Phillips made his first appearance in the 2019–20 2. Bundesliga on 17 August 2019 against

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

. On 27 December 2019, Liverpool announced that Phillips would be recalled from his loan on 1 January 2020 due to a defender injury crisis at his parent club. Twelve days later, after making his first team debut for Liverpool on 5 January 2020 in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

third round match against Everton, he was loaned back to VfB Stuttgart for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.

Return to Liverpool

On 31 October 2020, Phillips made his league debut for Liverpool, starting in a 2–1 win over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. On 10 March 2021, Phillips made his Champions League debut, putting in a man of the match performance in a 2–0 win over

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

, and helping Liverpool advance to the

quarter finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

4–0 on aggregate. Phillips scored his first goal for the club on 19 May 2021, scoring a headed goal and Liverpool's second of the game during a 3–0 away win over

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and claimed another man of the match award, this is currently his only goal for the club. The following season, Phillips played in Liverpool's 2–1 win against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

to complete the Champions League group stage with six wins. Days later it was revealed Phillips suffered a fractured cheekbone during the game. With game time limited in the 2021–22 season, Phillips admitted to being ready to leave the club in the January transfer window.

AFC Bournemouth (loan)

On 31 January 2022, Phillips joined

on loan until the end of the season. Regarding the move, Klopp commented that "he would have loved to have kept him t Liverpool and that Phillips was "incredibly reliable nd agreat figure here at the training ground." He made his debut for the club in the FA Cup on 6 February in a 1–0 loss to non-league side

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

. Phillips made his league debut for the club, and his first appearance in the Championship, in a 3–1 victory against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

on 9 February.

Celtic (loan)

On 31 August 2023, Phillips joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

side

on loan until January 2024. He made his league debut for the club in a 3–0 win against

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

on 16 September. On 4 October, Phillips made his Champions League debut for Celtic in a 2–1 loss against

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

on 4 October. After struggling to break into the first team at Celtic, he was recalled back to Liverpool in January.

Cardiff City (loan)

On 30 January 2024, Phillips joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

, on loan for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. He made his league debut for the club on 3 February in a 1–0 win against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Derby County (loan)

On 30 August 2024, Phillips joined EFL Championship club

, on loan for the remainder of the 2024–25 season. Derby head coach

Paul Warne Paul Warne (born 8 May 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of League Two club Milton Keynes Dons. Warne started his playing career in his native Norfolk for Great Yarmouth Town, Diss Tow ...

stated that his signing would give him "greater tactical flexibility" in team selection. Phillips made his Derby debut against former loan club Cardiff City on 14 September 2024. He made his first start for Derby at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

on 1 October 2024. Phillips scored his first goal for Derby in a 1–0 win at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on 26 April 2025. Under new head coach

John Eustace John Mark Eustace (born 3 November 1979) is an English professional football coach and former player who is currently head coach of club Derby County. During his playing career, he played as a central midfielder for Coventry City, Stoke City, ...

, Phillips impressed with his performance in a central defensive trio alongside Matt Clarke and Sondre Langås as Derby managed to escape relegation to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

, Phillips played 33 times for Derby during his loan spell and Eustace stated a desire for the player to return for the 2025–26 season.

West Bromwich Albion

On 23 June 2025, Phillips signed for Championship side

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Personal life

Nathaniel is the son of former footballer Jimmy Phillips and played under his management in the Bolton Wanderers academy. Since early 2022, Phillips has been dating Molly Moorish-Gallagher, the daughter of

Lisa Moorish Lisa Moorish (born 16 January 1972) is an English singer-songwriter. She had a solo career beginning in 1989, and was the lead singer of the indie band ''Kill City'' in the early 2000s. Biography Origins Moorish was born in Walworth, but grew ...

and

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...

. In May 2025, Phillips and Moorish-Gallagher announced that they were expecting their first child.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at the West Bromwich Albion F.C. website
Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Nat 1997 births Living people Footballers from Bolton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players VfB Stuttgart players AFC Bournemouth players Celtic F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany English expatriate sportspeople in Germany People educated at Bolton School 21st-century English sportsmen