Arsenal appointed Sven Mislintat as head of recruitment in December 2017 and after spending 14 months at the Emirates, he left the Gunners in February.
Earlier in May, VfB Stuttgart appointed the 46-year-old as their new sporting director and Nathaniel Phillips was one of the players he helped his new club sign in the summer.
The 22-year-old arrived at the second division German side on a season-long loan deal from Liverpool. Prior to his temporary move to Stuttgart, the centre-back signed a new deal at Anfield.
Mislintat joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund and during his time with the Bundesliga side, he worked with current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.
Sport Bild sat down for an interview with Mislintat and asked if the Reds boss advised him to sign Phillips.
He said, “My relationship with Jürgen played a part in this transfer. After Marcin Kamiński’s injry, we dealt with the topic on the short service route: Can this make sense? We were able to hire a very good center-back, who was not included in Liverpool’s squad.”
The German outlet further quizzed Mislintat on whether the Champions League winning coach actively approached him.
To which, the former Arsenal chief explained, “Of course we knew the player. But Klopp came up to me and then we discussed how this change could suit all parties.”
Phillips has made four appearances in all competitions for Stuttgart this season.
