As the 2019/20 Premier League season draws ever closer, Liverpool 's pre-season preparations continued with a friendly game against Sevilla on Sunday.
Despite the Reds eventually losing the game 2-1, results aren't particularly important in pre-season friendly matches, with managers more concerned about performances, tactical familiarity and fitness gains.
The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson , Trent Alexander-Arnold , Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum all started against the La Liga side, with youngster Nat Phillips also included in the back four.
The 22-year-old produced a mature performance, despite conceding twice, looking confident and composed on the ball.
So, how good can Phillips become?
And, what are his best attributes?
We used the highly respected Football Manager 2019 database to find out a bit more about the young defender.
Nat Phillips - Liverpool
Current ability: 90/200
Potential ability: -7 (140/200)
Positions: CB/RB/RWB
Best attributes: Bravery (16), aggression (14), heading (14), tackling (14), strength (13), jumping reach (13), positioning (12), marking (12), first touch (12), stamina (12), pace (12), acceleration (12).
Phillips' Football Manager 2019 profile suggest that he's a competent defender, with decent attributes in the areas you would want from a player in his position.
In terms of basic defensive attributes, Phillips' heading, tackling, strength, jumping reach, positioning and marking are quite strong, with adequate speed and strength too.
He's also competent technically too, with fair attributes for first touch, passing, technique, composure and decisions.
His current ability on Football Manager 2019 is set at 90 out of 200 right now, to put that into context, that's some way off the Liverpool first team, much lower than Joe Gomez (149) for example.
However, Phillip's had a potential ability rating of -7 on Football Manager 2019, which means he could potentially reach a current ability of 140 out of 200, this would make him around the same level of ability as Joel Matip (148) and Gomez (149).
Phillips may not ever become the new Virgil van Dijk, but he certainly has the potential to become a member of the Reds first team squad, or even a regular at another Premier League club, if Liverpool decide to sell their academy graduate.
Overall, the 22-year-old is a promising young defender, who Reds fans should keep an eye on in the next few years.
