Brighton & Hove Albion transfer news: Seagulls eyeing up Nat Phillips

Liverpool defender Nat Phillips
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Brighton are reportedly targeting Liverpool's Nat Phillips as a replacement for Ben White, who's set to join Arsenal in a £50 million move.

With the White transfer all but complete, it seems that Brighton are wasting no time in filling the void about to be left by the departure of their star man.

According to talkSPORT, the Seagulls are plotting a £15 million bid for Nat Phillips, who it's understood Liverpool will allow to leave for regular first-team minutes.

While replacing White like-for-like is a nigh-on impossible task, Graham Potter's side could do much worse than Phillips, who filled in solidly for Liverpool last season as their defence took a battering on the injury front.

Something of a late bloomer, Phillips, who turned 24 in March, only made his Premier League debut in October, having come through the Reds' youth system. 

The towering, Bolton-born centre-back had made one previous appearance for Liverpool, in January 2020's FA Cup Third Round win over Everton at Anfield, of all occasions, but his first taste of senior football came that same season on loan at Stuttgart, who he helped earn promotion from the 2. Bundesliga.

Phillips may be slightly older than White, 23, but he possesses an ideal-looking balance between youth and experience - and experience of having started 15 Premier League games for the reigning champions, no less (ok, their title defence didn't exactly go too well, but still).

Equally, Potter's track record of developing talent may well mean that Brighton find themselves making a healthy profit later down the line. £15 million could prove to be a greater steal than beach-goers' fish and chips for the Seagulls.

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