Tiago Ilori

[frank the tank]

that is crazyt alright...........

if this is all part of the 'Brendan v the committee' sideshow, then I think i might want the committee to win and be done with it.....

Balotelli, Lovren, Lambert, Luis Alberto, Tiago Ilori, Iago Aspas, Fabio Borini, Assaidi, Markovic............. that is a lot of transfer mistakes (and we still have Joe Allen, Lovren and Lallana on the books!!)

[Rich]

Just don't understand the club's logic

[baronvonskidmark]

The loan with an option to buy is a farce. If he's **** we get him back - if he's great, they can sign him.

Rodgers saw him as behind an ageing Toure ffs. His treatment of Sakho, Lucas (initially) and now Ilori leaves a lot to be desired imo.

[danperkins]

Our transfer policy is a laughing stock. Looks like Lovren is in for the long haul. Good times

[Leyton388]

Another Brendog transfer farce.

[Assassin]

An option to buy means absolutely nothing if we want to keep him......end of....

[Kenneth]

Great move. The lad should get PL experience in a **** back four under an arrogant yet clueless young manager.

[Rich]

Great move. The lad should get PL experience in a **** back four under an arrogant yet clueless young manager.

[Paddy]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/liverpool-news-brendan-rodgers-reckons-2276408

[MrMichael]

Not sure I understand the negative reaction to this one, there has been absolutely nothing to suggest Ilori is remotely ready for a first team place with us, he's hardly managed to get games on either of his loans over the last 2 years and clearly Joe Gomez is and should be ahead of him now if we are thinking of giving a youngster a chance at CB. Reminds me a little of how people were talking about Coates a couple of years ago and he clearly wasn't/isn't as good as people thought.

Loads of top clubs sign promising youngsters who don't quite make the grade, hell just look at Chelsea's loaned list. Sure £7m was quite an expense on a player who has never seen the first team squad (we've had a few of those of late, Alberto springs to mind) but we have absolutely no evidence whatsoever that he has done anything in pre-season etc to push himself up the pecking order and a loan, with a fee, is surely better than him just sitting in the reserves for another season?

[MrMichael]

The loan with an option to buy is a farce. If he's **** we get him back - if he's great, they can sign him.

Rodgers saw him as behind an ageing Toure ffs. His treatment of Sakho, Lucas (initially) and now Ilori leaves a lot to be desired imo.

Maybe the issue is that Rodgers saw him behind Gomez now? Comparing him to Toure is a bit of a white elephant imo, Toure is an ageing international CB who has won leagues etc and in theory should bring knowledge & experience to what is a very young (and at times mentally fragile) dressing room, I doubt him place in the squad is at all relevant to whether we keep a player like Ilori. Gomez clearly is and will be a central defender, if the club think he has greater potential, and a greater ability to play immediately, is it not more likely that he has taken Ilori's possible place?

As for treatment of players, I think that is well harsh particularly re. Ilori. Surely the business of all football clubs sees some players not getting opportunities and being moved on because they don't show as much as they were expected to when signed? The others well, that's very subjective, once again I would suggest the team has just been being picked on what the manager considers to be merit (as at any club), every player in the squad cannot be played all the time and managers are always going to make decisions that run contrary to what some of the fans would do. Anyway, for every person supposedly treated badly there's a Sterling, Ibe, Flannagan, Gomez etc, who have been given massive opportunities by Rodgers when many other clubs and managers would not have done. Swings & roundabouts imo.

[Shaggy]

I don't think people are pissed off about Ilori leaving in isolation, it's the bigger picture and the absolute state of our transfer policy. The schism between the committee signings and the manager's picks, the claim that we invest in young players and develop our own 'stars' when in fact we spunk millions on most of them only to barely give them a chance and give up on them a year or two later. We haemorrhage millions every summer and it's no surprise people are pissed off.

[Kenneth]

One sterling pays for a lot of Ilori's though.

[Saveloy]

For me the issue is more that we are starting to look pretty light in numbers at the back.

Gomez seems to be first choice left back, right back cover and centre half cover.

Also, while wasting this sort of money is almost a cost of doing business in the hit and miss world of premier league transfers, it's pretty peeving when relatively expensive youngsters get bombed out without them being given much of a chance. Or at least, us fans not seeing them given chances in the first team.

He got even less game time than Alberto didn't he?

[baronvonskidmark]

Maybe the issue is that Rodgers saw him behind Gomez now? Comparing him to Toure is a bit of a white elephant imo, Toure is an ageing international CB who has won leagues etc and in theory should bring knowledge & experience to what is a very young (and at times mentally fragile) dressing room, I doubt him place in the squad is at all relevant to whether we keep a player like Ilori. Gomez clearly is and will be a central defender, if the club think he has greater potential, and a greater ability to play immediately, is it not more likely that he has taken Ilori's possible place?

As for treatment of players, I think that is well harsh particularly re. Ilori. Surely the business of all football clubs sees some players not getting opportunities and being moved on because they don't show as much as they were expected to when signed? The others well, that's very subjective, once again I would suggest the team has just been being picked on what the manager considers to be merit (as at any club), every player in the squad cannot be played all the time and managers are always going to make decisions that run contrary to what some of the fans would do. Anyway, for every person supposedly treated badly there's a Sterling, Ibe, Flannagan, Gomez etc, who have been given massive opportunities by Rodgers when many other clubs and managers would not have done. Swings & roundabouts imo.

I get the fact that Toure has the greater experience, though I would question just how valuable a member of the squad he is if he cannot translate that experience on to the pitch, and his form would not make him a starter imo.

As for Ilori, I have mentioned previously that I actually think a loan per se is not a bad idea. Especially to a mid table PL team. He gets the experience and we get to see if he can cope with the rigours of the PL. But the idea of an option to buy seems to suit only Aston Villa - we couldn't even drive up the price with rival bids if we decided to sell him next summer.