Liverpool will face a decision over whether to allow Nat Phillips to return on loan at Stuttgart next season.
Phillips has proven a success during his season-long stay at the second tier German side, who were second in the race for promotion to the Bundesliga before the campaign was suspended last month due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The 22-year-old struggled for game time during the opening months with veteran Holger Badstuber and captain Marc-Oliver Kempf the preferred centre-back pairing.
Phillips, though, has started 11 of the last 12 games and has featured in every minute since the turn of the year.
And a report in German news outlet Stuttgarter Nachrichten has suggested Stuttgart want to take Phillips on loan for another season.
Phillips, who signed a new contract with Liverpool before making the loan switch to Germany, was temporarily recalled by Jurgen Klopp from his loan in January to help ease an injury crisis at centre-back.
The defender was given his debut in the 1-0 FA Cup third round win over Everton and played the full 90 minutes before returning to Stuttgart for the remainder of the campaign.
Speaking to Goal last month, Phillips remained open-minded over his future plans.
“It’s not like I’m going to be coming back saying I should be playing Champions League football, that’s not realistic," he said.
"But I feel like so far this year I have done enough to think ‘right, what’s the next step?’ with the end goal of one day playing for Liverpool.
“How long that will take, or what route it will take, I couldn’t tell you right now."
Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren have been the senior centre-back options available for Liverpool this season.
