Cardiff City set to beat Blackburn Rovers to the signing of Liverpool's Nat Phillips

Cardiff City are close to landing Liverpool defender Phillips on loan

Cardiff City are set to beat Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers to the signing of Liverpool defender Nat Phillips.

The centre-back is set to join the Bluebirds on loan until the end of the season. He is travelling down to south Wales today.

He spent the first half of the 2023/24 campaign with Scottish giants Celtic but returned to Anfield after failing to get minutes under his belt at Celtic Park.

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Phillips rose to prominence on the red half of Merseyside during the 2020-21 campaign, with defender Virgil van Dijk sidelined with a long-term injury. He was the loaned to Bournemouth in 2021-22 before remaining at Liverpool last term.

Leeds United were also keeping tabs on Phillips' situation, according to national reports, but Erol Bulut's men have stolen a march and now look set to bring in the 26-year-old until the end of the season.

The Reds are believed to have sought assurances over game-time in south Wales, having seen Jonathan Panzo return to Nottingham Forest early following his loan spell in the Welsh capital.

But those concerns appear to have been allayed by Cardiff, who have seen Mark McGuinness and Dimitrios Goutas form a solid partnership at the back. Regardless of that fact, Bulut was keen to add to his central defensive options for the second half of the season and look to have found their man in Phillips.

Details still need to be ironed out, however, before the deal is rubber-stamped.