Alan Shearer has picked a former Sunderland legend as one of the Premier League’s most promising young players.
The former Newcastle United striker stated why his former club ‘hated’ Kevin Phillips during his brilliant tenure on Wearside on the Match of the Day: Top 10 podcast. Kevin Phillips joined Sunderland from Watford in 1997 for an initial fee of £325,000. After scoring 30 goals in his maiden season in the Premier League, the attacker became the only Englishman to receive the Golden Shoe.
Phillips was also elected Premier League Player of the Year, North East FWA Player of the Year, and a member of the PFA Team of the Year.
Phillips scored 130 goals in 235 games for Sunderland, helping the club rise from Division One to consecutive seventh-place finishes in the Premier League.
Phillips later joined Southampton when the Black Cats were relegated again.
Despite his fondness for their bitter rivals, the 50-year-old is hailed as one of Sunderland’s greatest ever players and has even received high acclaim from Alan Shearer.
“He had that brilliant collaboration with Quinn, didn’t he?” “It worked perfectly for him, big man, little man,” Shearer remarked.
“I’m not sure, I think Watford got him from Kevin Phillips.” He was only 20 miles away, and Newcastle fans despised him. But they despised him for a reason, and that reason was because he was a fantastic goal scorer.”
Will Sunderland ever find another Kevin Phillips?
Kevin Phillips scored four goals in six outings against Newcastle United, so it’s no surprise that Alan Shearer and the Tyneside faithful hated him.
The days of Phillips and Niall Quinn have not been forgotten in Sunderland, and fans will no doubt wish they were back in the Championship right now.
The pair combined for 41 league goals as Sunderland were promoted in 1998-19, and it was no surprise that they finished 18 points clear at the top of the table.
The current Black Cats aren’t expected to hit similar heights, but the fact that not a single striker has scored yet makes promotion look increasingly implausible. Sunderland have been expecting to buy a future star on the cheap, as they did with Phillips, but signing inexperienced foreign teenagers would never have the same impact.
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