A report in the Liverpool Echo suggested that Tiago Ilori may be going out on loan after arriving at the club in the summer.
Liverpool are looking to send out 20-year-old Tiago Ilori on loan in the January window according to a report in this morning’s Liverpool Echo.
Ilori signed for the Reds on transfer deadline day from Sporting Lisbon for a free believed to be around £6m but has yet to make an appearance for the first team at the club.
Competition for places in the defence in the Liverpool side has looked as if it would be fierce as soon as the transfer window closed, and opportunities for 20-year-old Ilori always looked to be limited given he was likely to fifth in the pecking order behind Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho, combined with the fact Liverpool are not participating in European competition this season.
At 20-years-old and playing on a semi-regular basis at Sporting Lisbon, Ilori was perhaps being developed a steady pace and probably needed a step up in level but he still needs to playing regularly at a decent level.
So far, since he came to Liverpool he has played in a couple of Under-21 Premier League matches and been on the subs bench for the first team on a few occasions, but has yet to see any sustained action in the first team.
This may be down to him recovering from an operation on an injury, lack of fitness, who knows? But at his age, and given that he is highly rated as a centre-halve, he needs a decent run of match time to aid his development.
What could Liverpool have done? Put in place an agreement to take him to Liverpool and loan him back to Sporting Lisbon or another club for up to a season where he has more of a chance of getting some games under his belt? Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and maybe the club has realised they can’t give him the opportunities he needs just yet.
image: © helly – b
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