Why new West Brom signing remains firm favourite of ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp

The 28-year-old - who on Monday became Ryan Mason's first signing as head coach at The Hawthorns in an initial £1million switch - has not made a competitive appearance for Liverpool in two-and-a-half years.

His last outing was a 1-0 FA Cup win at Wolves in January 2023.

In the time since he has been out on loan at Celtic, Cardiff City and Derby County, three of five loans in total away from Merseyside. Phillips shone in the east Midlands with Derby last term and played a key role in leading John Eustace's men to safety from Championship relegation.

While he had been on the fringes at Liverpool more recently, there was a time when Phillips - who swapped Bolton for the Reds aged 19 in 2016 - enjoyed an unexpected trajectory into Jurgen Klopp's starting reckoning.

In the mostly behind-closed-doors 2020/21 campaign, when Liverpool were defending Premier League champions, the Reds were hit with an injury crisis having lost Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip. Midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, who fitted into the backline, also went down.

That opened the door to Phillips and fellow academy youngster Rhys Williams, who the season before had been on loan at Kidderminster Harriers, to step up. Phillips only made his Reds bow in October 2020 and went on to clock up 20 games that term - 17 in the Premier League and three in the Champions League.

Ailing Liverpool had hit the skids and were well out of European contention, but the unlikely partnership of uncompromising defender Phillips and Williams helped the Reds motor to a surprising third-placed finish.

Phillips was rewarded with a long-term deal at Anfield - which ends next summer - but from then on spent most of his time out on loan.

What Jurgen Klopp said to the Baggies target after his side went on to make the Champions League final the following season

The efforts of Phillips and Williams, who had earned a cult-like status to help the side clinch third, were well-remembered the following term, as Klopp's men made the final, which they lost to Real Madrid.

"I messaged Rhys and Nat because we wouldn’t be there without them," Klopp said at the time.

"I remember the final game of last season. They left the pitch with a bandage around the head, cuts on their faces, and that was really a symbol for the whole period. We went through on one leg, with one eye... it was incredible. It was such a tough season.

"Hopefully nobody forgot how hard we fought to get here. We felt it mentally. The public wasn’t shy of telling us that we underperformed and all these kind of things.

"We had no centre-halves, had to play midfielders in the last line.

"In the end, we played with two incredible players — Rhys and Nat — but we couldn’t use them earlier because they needed time to adapt. So, yes, there was a bit of a point to prove and I’m really happy that the boys did that."

Phillips was a huge hit with the Championship Rams last season

The 6ft 3ins centre-back's two standout loans have been in the Championship - a promotion in 2021/22 with Bournemouth and last season's fight against the odds to help Derby survive.

Asked at the end of last season if Rams boss Eustace - who had been linked with the Albion post - wanted to keep Phillips permanently, he said: "Yeah, for sure. I think he's been outstanding and his performances have been very good. The match-winning header last week was awesome.

"We've slowly got more clean sheets which is great. If you look at the time that we've been here, it's a seven-week programme for pre-season, there's been a lot of work put in to get to this stage now where we're very competitive and hard to play against."

Phillips' sole goal for Derby came on the penultimate day of last season - the dramatic late match-winner in the crucial 1-0 win at rivals Hull.

He was described as a colossus on the final day of the campaign in a goalless draw at Stoke that sealed survival while Luton, who crashed to defeat at The Hawthorns, were relegated.