West Brom told they might have Gareth McAuley 2.0 - it cost just £3m | OneFootball

FLW's West Brom fan pundit issues a comparison between Nathaniel Phillips and Baggies cult-hero Gareth McAuley

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

West Brom supporters are hopeful that Nathaniel Phillips can go on to become their next Gareth McAuley.

After making the move to West Brom from Liverpool in the summer, Nathaniel Phillips has proved to be a shrewd signing for the Baggies by putting in consistently high performance levels and always being available for selection.

The 28-year-old introduced himself to the Hawthorns and to manager Ryan Mason right from the get-go as he has become a regular 90-minute man alongside fellow experienced defender Chris Mepham, who also signed in the summer from Bournemouth.

Phillips has had some outstanding performances in his early West Brom career, including a stern defensive display in their 1-0 win against Blackburn, but none better than away to Stoke at the end of August where he kept a clean sheet and scored the winner against the high-flying Potters.

Despite it being very much early days for Phillips in a Baggies shirt, Football League World's West Brom fan pundit, Callum, believes that the ex-Liverpool man mimics traits of the club legend Gareth McAuley and could go on to have a similar career to the Northern Irishman, which would be more than welcomed if he's to keep performing at the consistent level that he has done so far.

West Brom comparison made between Nathaniel Phillips and Gareth McAuley

After getting a glimpse of what is to come in a Baggies shirt, having played over 10 games for his new club now, West Brom have now certainly got a centre-back pairing in Phillips and Mepham that can keep them challenging for those top 6 Championship spots.

Having a wealth of experience playing in the top flight with Liverpool and Bournemouth, and more recently with Cardiff and Derby in the second tier, FLW's West Brom fan pundit, Callum, has drawn comparisons between Phillips and club hero McAuley, who made over 220 appearances for the Baggies.

Callum said: "I think an easy link you can make is probably Gareth McAuley and Nat Phillips, where both players weren't blessed with tremendous amounts of pace or speed, but both are exceptional in the air.

"Despite the limitations of how fast they are, their defensive awareness is probably some of their best attributes.

"I think that if Phillips can go on to have half the Albion career that McAuley did, and score so many goals for us, then I think he'll consider himself as doing well in an Albion shirt."

Gareth McAuley went beyond all expectations for West Brom

After making the move to The Hawthorns on a free transfer from Ipswich Town in 2011, not many could have predicted the outstanding Baggies career that the Northern Irishman would go on to have, but he certainly proved the doubters wrong by being a mainstay in their defence for many years, especially under Tony Pulis where.

Upon signing for West Brom, his arrival brought about plenty of speculation, with the common narrative being that he wouldn't be able to make the jump to the Premier League after making a name for himself as an established EFL defender with Ipswich, Leicester, and Lincoln.

2016/17 was the central defender's most prominent season as he formed a safe and sound partnership with Jonny Evans. The pair were assured in their defensive duties as well as being a threat in the opposition's box, which overall made McAuley such a well-rounded Premier League defender.

Nathaniel Phillips could do with some stability at West Brom

After getting his first taste of professional football when on loan with Bundesliga side Stuttgart in the 2019/20 season, Phillips has been well travelled around the UK and hasn't yet established himself as a long-term centre-back option wherever he has been.

Now being 28-years-old, it could now be considered that the defender is in the prime of his career, but with loan after loan ever since kickstarting his professional career, with a permanent deal settled, now is the time for Phillips to become part of the fixtures and fittings in the West Brom backline.

He showed last season, when with Derby County, that he is more than competent to play at Championship level, having made 32 league appearances for the Rams, and even the season prior, where he played 18 times for Cardiff.

The defensive stability he offers as well as a goal threat from set-pieces at the opposite end of the pitch makes him a real asset to the Baggies, who are lucky to have a towering figure like himself in their ranks. McAuley, too, was a big presence in the attacking third for West Brom, which was highlighted by his 2016/17 season, where he scored six league goals from centre back.

If Phillips can replicate anything close to the level that McAuley operated at, then in years to come, Baggies fans could be taking about the 28-year-old as a steal of a signing. Despite £3m being a rather decent fee for a player who hasn't established himself as a regular over the course of a full season other than last campaign, his signing could be viewed as a slight risk, but that risk is currently paying off.