Lazar Markovic

[The_weatherman]

We wont make a loss on him until we sell him, so loaning him out now seems OK to me, he'll get limited game time this season but with the loan he´ll play in a good league, in Europe and hopefully kick on a level and either come back or be sold next summer.

blimey, am I now the optimist? Well, either way, I can see the logic here for both parties.

[The_weatherman]

The only blunder is Brendan's for managing him so poorly.

Yes, I agree Brendan didn't handle him well, but if we look at the now, I think a loan is sensible, he might still come back.

[Roboklopp]

We wont make a loss on him until we sell him, so loaning him out now seems OK to me, he'll get limited game time this season but with the loan he´ll play in a good league, in Europe and hopefully kick on a level and either come back or be sold next summer.

blimey, am I now the optimist? Well, either way, I can see the logic here for both parties.

He's amortising as we type.

[The_weatherman]

He's amortising as we type.

Yes, but if we sell him now for 10 million we'll lose more than if we sell him next season for 10 million, or 15 million if he does well, or he might still come back next season and do well for us.

[frank the tank]

That is past, we can't turn the clock back but we can try and rectify our mistakes. I don't think Rodgers wanted some of the players we signed, the fact he hardly played some and they are being moved on this summer would maybe imo back this up. I hardly see why those players are then thrust forward as another reason to have a go at the manager. Lallana is a good player, not £25m good but he will have a part to play this year. You keep going on about lucky to have a job. Perhaps the owners realise they made mistakes and those weren't solely down to the boss. I honestly don't give a **** if he is or isn't. We haven't conceded in three games and we have 7 points from 9. More importantly we played very well at Arsenal. The new signings look very good so far. Why not focus on the positives?

You can pick any manager in the history of the game, and i will rattle off a list of turkeys he signed.

I think to be fair to Brendan, then you need to judge him on the squad strength as a whole. I have been a big critic of the signing of Lallana since day one, but for the £25m i think we wasted on him (or maybe £12m over-spent) then you also have to take into account the fact that Brendan turned Sterling from a youth signing from QPR into a £49m player. (Or at least a player that we got £49m for!)

He has turned an Inter Milan reject into the most exciting attacking midfielder we have seen in years - and potentially one of the best in europe.

He has made Sturridge into the striker that he always thought he could be........but Man City and Chelsea weren't able to do that.

We laugh now at how Rodgers almost swapped Henderson for Clint ****in Dempsey but it didn't go through. Instead Henderson had the right attitude but also the right guidance under Brendan and became a main fixture in the team.

Emre Can could also become the same - and end up being worth a lot more than we paid for him.

We might end up losing a few million if and when we sell Alberto Moreno, but we will probably only do so because we have a lad we paid £3.5m for who is younger and better.

And it is the above why I am happy that FSG stuck with Brendan in the summer. Klopp would have got us all excited for a while but for me Brendan is still a great guy to have to develop the young players we have at the club. And if the core of the team have anything about them, then they will be a lot better for having got through last season. The champions league theme song being played every week on the telly should be huge motivation to the likes of Coutinho, Hendo etc....

So i agree with you Bob.

Getting back to Markovic, to be honest the reason I would be sorry to see him leave, is that I think Brendan could get a song out of him. Especially as we have loads of games in the europa league as well as domestically.... surely there will be plenty of opportunities for him and now that Wilson and Ojo have left, then it's not like we have too many other young players we are going to play in the europa league games.

Perhaps Brendan sees Markovic every day and just thinks that he is a bad professional??? And maybe he sees the likes of Teixeria and thinks that he is more worthy of an opportunity?

[Leyton388]

A loan is a good option for him but having spent £20m on him it seems a waste. I hope he comes back in a year a better player but realistically how many players have gone out on loan and come back to be part of the first team? I know people say you win some you lose some but it's a shame as he has a lot of potential and I would of like to have seen him loaned to a premiership team. Someone like west ham or Newcastle

Unfortunately the lad was poorly managed last season. If there is a case for Markovic to go out on loan then there's an even stronger case for Joe Allen to be sold completely.

You never know he might do well next season and we can get £10m to £15m back which will be decent. This might also be us freeing up a space in the squad for a new arrival.

[Fredo]

The only blunder is Brendan's for managing him so poorly.

How come? He did well for some time in a wing back role, even though it wasn't his ideal position. And that formation with 3 at the back, stood us well for 20 odd games when we were very very good.

[The_weatherman]

A loan is a good option for him but having spent £20m on him it seems a waste. I hope he comes back in a year a better player but realistically how many players have gone out on loan and come back to be part of the first team? I know people say you win some you lose some but it's a shame as he has a lot of potential and I would of like to have seen him loaned to a premiership team. Someone like west ham or Newcastle

Unfortunately the lad was poorly managed last season. If there is a case for Markovic to go out on loan then there's an even stronger case for Joe Allen to be sold completely.

You never know he might do well next season and we can get £10m to £15m back which will be decent. This might also be us freeing up a space in the squad for a new arrival.

I think given Markovic's age and the competition we have now it'd best for him to get some games, hopefully we'll see him back. I can agree on Joe Allen being sold outright

[MrMichael]

Blimey, he's not leaving us. He's just going on loan which will benefit both him and us. We can't afford to stake our top four position in giving him game time and he can't afford to wait for those chances to be handed to him.

If he does what De Bruyne did when he left Chelsea for an easier league then brilliant. We can get all our money back on him or he comes back to us as the next worldie player. Win win. If not then we really did have a dud, these things happen and we move on.

The only blunder is Brendan's for managing him so poorly.

Absolutely, he's a world class talent who only failed to set the prem on fire due to managerial ineptitude.

Or maybe that's way ott, and like someone like Lamela at Spurs, he is a fairly talented kid who looked scared silly in the prem and with our strength in depth this season simply wasn't going to get enough games to aid his development and not loaning him out would have further hampered any chance we would ever see of recovering our investment or having a useful player at the end of it.

Not sure where this narrative of Markovic being great and us ****ing it up has come from, unlike Sakho say who has actually had a few good performances for us, Markovic was pretty weak last season regardless of where and how he was played. Maybe he's just not as good as we thought he was before we bought him, would hardly be a unique situation in football. I know semi-permanent outrage at everything we do is in vogue but really I think this is a sensible move by the club, who obviously don't think on the basis of watching him in training every day that he's at a level yet to be challenging for a first team place.

[Fredo]

Markovic hasn't made the bench for the first 3 games, so I can't see what's the issue? He's not been good enough and hopefully that'll give him the kick up the ass that's needed for him to perform, if he's as good as some people think.

[baitman]

Markovic has really blossomed into the coates role.

[baronvonskidmark]

I think it's actually a good idea to loan him out, the competition is fierce for the attacking spots, Ibe, Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho, Origi, Ings, Sturridge and Benteke is more than adequate IMO.

Surely there is some limit to how many players we can have on our roster. Also he needs more playing time now so it's good for him and hopefully we'll see him back next summer after year playing week in week out in a decent league with decent players as well.

He has been poorly managed though IMO, but hopefully he finds his feet and confidence, I think there is a good player in him.

Totally agree and I think we need to forget his price tag and look at ways to improve the player.

At this particular moment in time, he is far too lightweight or robust for the PL. Loaning him to another PL club would be ideal - but as he is so lightweight, there would be the dangerous potential of him not getting enough games if he proves not physical enough for the loan team.

The Turkish league is in many ways a great idea. It is much more intimidating than the Portuguese league (where he excelled), but not as physically demanding as the PL, so could be a useful bridge between the two, especially if he is guaranteed playing time. The Turkish league also seems to be awash with money at the moment, so success there could easily lead to a permanent sale - if we deem his progress insubstantial. If it was up to me, I'd set him a weight training schedule to help bulk him up for his return.

As for this season, in a 4-3-3 we have easily enough. Origi, Ings, Lallana, Ibe, Coutinho, Firmino, Moreno, Sturridge can all play the wider strike position. These are at least on his level at the moment, so we should be covered, even for Cup/EL games and so he's going to get far more game time in Turkey.

Financially it also makes sense. The money saved on his wages would pay for the wages we have to make up for Balotelli. If things go as we hope, we end up with a better, more rounded player to rejoin us next year - hopefully like a new signing - and it will cost us nothing.

[Vermilion]

I'm undecided on him tbh, probably because i've not seen a lot of him.

[Rowan]

There is an argument we have had a disjointed transfer policy. However, I think in the two specific cases there are arguments that have to be taken into consideration.

Balotelli was a gamble made when we needed a player. Over his career he has been a successful commercial player as well as a decent footballer. It didn't pay off but if we don't take gambles sometimes we will never improve.

Markovic (even ignoring the fact he may well come back as a success) should be viewed in the market for similar players. Look at the money paid by United and Chelsea for wide attacking players and their success rate. To me in that context (and suspecting his wages are not that high) it was a decent transfer to try. If we sell him for a decent price it will have been a fair enough transfer choice, if not it still won't be the huge, moronic blunder you seem to wish to portray it as.

Chelsea are by far the worst offenders. Marin, Atsu, Salah, Cuadthingy to name just the last 3 seasons worth. plus their epic De Bruyne **** up. Buying turkeys or mismanaging talent isn't a trend exclusively practiced by us.

But they have one up on us in that they at least found out how to get shot of Borini.

[Kenneth]

The difference with Chelsea is that the failures mentioned would walk into another PL team. They are looking for a class of player above the rest, and there are less of them, and they're happy to keep spending until they find them. We just need our £20m wide players to be decent and be ahead of inexperienced youngsters, or for strikers to be better than playing with no strikers.