Derby County will be looking at West Brom with serious envy - They've missed out | OneFootball

Nat Phillips was one of the standouts at Pride Park last season, now he's signed for West Brom

After nine years on the books at Liverpool, which included six loan spells with five different teams, Nat Phillips has left Anfield permanently to join West Bromwich Albion.

The news would have frustrated Derby County fans, as Phillips played a huge part in their late surge for survival, playing every minute in the final 11 games of the season and scoring the late winner against Hull City in the penultimate game of the campaign.

Under John Eustace, the Rams should be confident of avoiding a relegation scrap in the upcoming season, but it seems that their aspirations weren't enough to keep the 28-year-old at Pride Park past his season-long loan spell.

In the end, the former Liverpool man will go down as a loan player that those at Derby fell in love with too soon.

Nat Phillips' performances at Derby make West Brom transfer even more frustrating for Rams fans

Last season was truly the first time that Nat Phillips had played a key part in a side for the entire season.

The 28-year-old had played important roles during short-term deals at Bournemouth and Cardiff City in the Championship before, but it felt that his time at Derby really saw him take that next step and become a true key member of the team.

It took the Liverpool loanee a while to get going at Pride Park under Paul Warne, starting just one of his opening ten league games, but since November, he's played a key role when fit, and it increased even further under John Eustace when he was appointed in February.

Under a more robust manager, Phillips shone, and Eustace's side kept five clean sheets in their final 11 games en route to survival. Nat Phillips started and completed all of them.

Across the season, Phillips' 138 aerial duels won placed him in the top 10% of Championship centrebacks, and he won them at a 70.4% rate, too. There weren't many more imperious in the air than the Liverpool loanee during the whole season.

And his goal in the dying embers of the penultimate game of the season against Hull City to secure all three points and lift his side out of the Championship's bottom three before the final day still likely gets played in the memories of Derby fans to this day.

So, for Derby fans, it will sting to see Phillips move on, especially to another Championship side. They'll be hoping that he doesn't show this kind of defensive robustness in the couple of games they play against West Brom in the upcoming season.

West Brom will hope that Nat Phillips can continue his form into 2025/26

For a West Brom side looking to return to the play-offs after a disappointing season last term, bringing in Nat Phillips is a great way to kickstart that.

Despite the season being looked at as one of regression for Baggies fans due to their ninth-place finish, West Brom's 47 goals conceded last season was the lowest outside the league's top four, and the addition of Phillips will only serve to better that next season.

Phillips told West Brom that after a number of loan spells, he's looking forward to "going somewhere and knowing we're staying there to develop a relationship with the club," which could also see an improvement in his performances as he knows he can settle at his new club.

If that ends up being the case, West Brom will be a side to be reckoned with on the defensive end, and ultimately, Derby County fans will be wishing that Phillips could have settled in further at their club instead.