Jordan Henderson is confident that Nat Phillips’ loan spell will be well-suited to him following a conversation with former Liverpool midfielder, Adam Lallana.
The now Brighton and Hove Albion man reassured his old teammate that Bournemouth would be ‘the perfect place’ for the 24-year-old centre-half for the remainder of the campaign.
“It’s impossible to understate the contribution he made last season in helping us secure Champions League football during the most challenging of circumstances for the club. He deserves to be playing regularly and this loan will undoubtedly help with that,” the skipper wrote in his programme notes, as reported by the club’s official website.
“I don’t know what went on behind the scenes, but it looks and sounds like there was Premier League interest as well. No question he belongs at this level by the way, but I think Bournemouth is perfect for a lot of reasons.
“Scott Parker comes across as a superb manager. Adam Lallana, although at Brighton as a player, has close connections to Bournemouth as a club and he says it is the perfect place for Nat at this moment, so that will do for me.”
The defender is joined by right-back Neco Williams in the Championship, with the Welshman having departed on loan to Marco Silva’s Fulham outfit.
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Whilst it’s a massive shame to lose a centre-back of the Englishman’s quality for the remainder of the campaign, it seems rather unlikely that we’ll be inundated with an injury crisis anywhere near as severe as that which decimated our squad last term.
As such, a move for more regular minutes more than makes sense for us and the player, and could yet boost his chances of a permanent move in the summer to a club in more desperate need of quality options at the back.