SUPER KEV, SUPER SUB?
The Sunderland striker also won the Golden Boot for topping the scoring charts with 30 goals - a fantastic achievement for a player in his first Premiership season.
But after being overlooked for both the Football Writers and PFA Player of the Year awards, Phillips is also likely to miss out on an England place in the European championships.
Kevin Keegan clearly rates the Sunderland striker highly, stating "you can't argue with stats and 30 goals a season is a phenomenal strike rate". But with Alan Shearer seemingly assured of his place up front, Phillips looks to be fighting for just one remaining spot with Michael Owen and Emile Heskey.
On current form, the former Watford forward certainly looks to have the edge over the Liverpool pair. During the season, Owen fired just 11 goals and Heskey one fewer. But Shearer's strike partner will not be chosen on his scoring record alone.
The England captain already has a history with Owen after the last World Cup and his affection for playing with a 'physical' partner like Heskey is well documented. But over the last year, Phillips has shown himself to be more than just a goal poacher.
The Black Cat set up four goals - the same total as Heskey and one more than Owen - prompting his manager Peter Reid to compare his skills to those of Rivaldo and Ronaldo.
In fact, of all England's strikers, official Premiership statisticians Opta Index ranked Phillips as the best. He was however, rated as only the fourth most effective striker in the league behind Dwight Yorke, Thierry Henry and Paolo Di Canio - who was the Opta player of the year.
Each of these imports fired a greater percentage of their shots on target than Phillips and also exhibited their skills in other areas.
Di Canio scored 16 goals and set up 13, making him responsible for 56% of West Hams' goals. Yorke was impressive in Manchester United's defence of the Premiership, finding his target with 84% of his passes in the opposition half - the best rating in the league.
And while Henry started his Premiership career slowly, he scored in a record equalling seven consecutive league games to finish the campaign with 17 goals. He also managed eight assists to indicate the danger he could cause England if they meet France in Euro 2000.
To date, Phillips has started only three games for his country, but in that time he has shown signs that he could form an effective partnership with Shearer.
The fact that he has not yet found the back of the net at international level may mean he starts Euro 2000 on the bench. But if he is given a chance, he has the talent to make a similar impact to the one that Owen made during the last World Cup.
