18 Jun 2015

Anfield Exit: Prem club 'keen' to sign 'super-quick' £7m Liverpool outcast. Sell?

In March, multiple reports claimed that Liverpool were 'ready to hear offers' for Tiago Ilori, with Sunderland leading the queue to sign the £7m Reds outcast. Speculation has cooled over the last couple of months, but it appears that Sunderland are still keen on pursuing a transfer this summer.

Ilori is in action for Portugal's U21 team tonight in a European Championship game against England, and according to BBC Senior reporter Ian Dennis tonight:

"Sunderland are keen on loan move for Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori."

With the greatest respect, I doubt Sunderland have much chance of sealing a deal; Fabio Borini couldn't be persuaded to swap Liverpool for the North-East, and the same will probably happen with Ilori.

Real Sociedad are also interested, and will probably a more attractive option for Ilori:

* He'll get to play against the world's best players on a regular basis.

* Sociedad is a higher profile club than Sunderland.

* Playing in Spain will give Ilori more chance of securing a move to a top La Liga club.

* Quality of life: Sunderland vs. San Sebastien. No contest.

Liverpool fans seem to have a lot of faith in Ilori, though. A few months ago, I conducted a poll on the site asking fans whether LFC should sell the Portuguese if/when the opportunity arises.

* A whopping 84% of participants voted NO to selling Ilori.

That's an emphatic vote of confidence in the Portuguese youngster, but I don't see him staying at Anfield in the long-term. There's too much competition, and with Joe Gomez on the verge of signing for Liverpool, Ilori's chances to make a breakthrough may become even more restricted.


It'll be a shame if Ilori leaves without being given a chance to prove himself, though. Who knows how he would've performed if given a run of games. Even Sebastian Coates got a few chances in the first team, but Rodgers has totally ignore Ilori since he signed in 2013.

Thankfully, Ilori - described by Brendan Rodgers as 'super-quick' and a 'great talent - cost a comparatively minimal £7m, so the overall financial loss will probably be small.

Unless, of course, Liverpool somehow manage to sell Ilori for a profit. It seems unlikely, but Sunderland were reportedly willing to spend £14m on Fabio Borini, so, clearly, anything is possible.

Author: Jaimie K


21 comments:

  1. He was stick thin when we signed him but since then has never had a look even in preseason. Is our defense that good that we can simply ignore this guy. What's the harm? Selling Johnson, Enrique and probably Toure makes real sense. If we have a PROVEN target coming in and there is no room for Ilori then sell. Given our horrible transfer record he ought to get a preseason sniff until we have located a proven talent, not replace him with another 18-19 yr old question mark.

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  2. Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho, and Thiago Ilori all playing for Portugal in the U21s v England tonight, should be good to watch.

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  3. Anyone know how long left on his contract?

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  4. typical scouser pulling Sunderland to bits. Go back in history and see who was the bank of England club? Your demise as a club is clear to see and you are on the verge of the also rans, so dont be so quick to be negative about others. We know where we are in the pecking order and accept it but i feel your living on borrowed time as an institution of british football for future generations. Shame but fact of life.

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  5. I'd rather loan than sell.


    Still young. Let's see how much he can develop over the next year before selling.

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  6. Agreed. A loan to a PL club would be ideal so he can get used to the physicality of the league. Then at the end of next season we can make our verdict. Sell or keep.

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  7. My spidey-sense tells me he'd struggle to get games. Maybe find a way into a career in Portugal or Spain but England is beyond him for now I think.

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  8. Muhammad Ibrahim8:33 pm, June 18, 2015

    Ilori should be given a pre-season look-in. Then loaned out for first team football. I think he can develop into a decent CB or move forward to a CDM position.


    We have been linked with Mateo Kovacic for so long, with no deal done yet. Would love to see him at our club. Hopefully things only quietened downed due to possible protests by the Inter faithful and he will be a Liverpool man before next season. Then we can all doubt and think we were only linked with Kovacic to settle for Ben Gibson (with whom we also have been linked).....

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  9. You're probably right... he's just so young at this point that I don't think there can be any real expectation that he wouldn't contribute for at least another 2 years.


    I almost have the notion that we'd be best served keeping him here and using Europa as the means to getting him time. Don't send him to Spain or Portugal. Have him train here and play in important games.

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  10. Ilori very good and is like rio Ferdinand in his prime. Fast and solid with a good passing range. Sad really but poor tactics by rodgers.

    We should use the money from sterling £50m to buy reus and offer him the wage we offered sterling 150k.

    Use the borini money £14m to buy clyne, who is not world class but a very good rb in the p.league.

    Use lambert and coates money £10m to buy lucas digne who will play alongside sakho who is a good friend.

    Then promote can to midfield, and play

    '...........................mingolet
    Clyne..........skrtel..............sakho......digne
    ..................can...........hendo
    ....milner...........coutinho..........reus
    ............................ings

    Sturridge is never fit so dont mention. When he is fit the club can think of that. Now we focus on using the 50m from sterling on a straight swap world class player. My pick is Reus if we culd get him. Alternative 30m higuain and 20m yarmolenko 77 goals/assists last season.

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  11. We only offered 100 to sterling, he tried demanding 150. That 14mil for borini was last summer not this summer

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  12. Not Rios biggest fan ( ex manure ) but the only thing they have in common is they are male

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  13. We can still get 15m for borini. Hes a low wage player. Teams will pay the fee. But he must go this summer or we risk taking a loss as he will rot on our bench and lose more value.

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  14. He's allegedly on 80 \90 g

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  15. Doubt that. Probably 50k top

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  16. Brendan buys Brendan sells???? What a joker...let January come please!!!!!! FOR HIS SACK....

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  17. Your time for BORE INGIs transfer is long gone, Also the manager who wanted him has gone also, so £14,000,000 best you dream on, not going to happen, maybe on fantasy island, but not in the prem. you can keep him and welcome.

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  18. Real Sociedad are also interested, and will probably be a more attractive option for Ilori:

    * He'll get to play against the world's best players on a regular basis.

    * Playing in Spain will give Ilori more chance of securing a move to a top La Liga club.

    * Quality of life: Liverpool vs. San Sebastien. No contest.

    'nuff said! ;)

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  19. Now both clubs living in the past let's start winning then we can have a go at each other

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  20. How many first team games has Borini had since he declined, ever so slowly, to move to Sunderland, where he would have been a regular first team choice. Even Darren Bent who scored some cracking goals for us and suddenly left for purportedly a three times raise seems to have lost his way. It really is becoming a choice of sitting on a bench because of an inflated income instead of playing the game regularly that a player is purported to love

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