Tiago Ilori. Our 20 year old Portuguese CB signed for £7m in the summer. He is yet to make his LFC debut and is now on loan at Granada. He has been called a waste of money and an out cast by some fans and the press. But personally Ii'd call that harsh words. I posted this in the loan watch thread the other day but people have gone so crazy for this that is now being shown on the Echo site. This kid can pass a ball! [video=youtube;aNzH-sT5yGA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNzH-sT5yGA[/video] Lets give this some some attention because that assist is word class! His some highlights of his game at the weekend. [video=youtube;_H8drZCnNNY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H8drZCnNNY[/video] Can he come in to our team next season?
In the highlights video his passing and control are very impressive. He sprays a few of those Gerrard esq long passes there, mainly to the wingers and full backs, and seems very accurate. He also looks very good at spotting a good forward run ahead of him. His short passing is tidy to. He seems to have some good interceptions and blocks to which is good.
great cos he looked awful in brief u21 games. 7mil is a lot to risk so hopefully he gets games and comes back ready to be an option going forward... still would have rathers on 15mil player this year than 2 hopefuls for 2 years time.
I don't think anyone can say it was a **** signing yet because he has never played but we spent £7mil on a him and another £7mil on Alberto and I think its hard to understand why we would spend £14mil on two players that have barely kicked a ball between them. I believe Illori can also play left back so if Rodgers doesn't fancy him at left back over Cissokho then that doesn't look too good for him either.
Ilori and Alberto are 20/21 so there's plenty of time for them to justify their modest fees Not having European football has been great for focusing on the league but has also reduced our options for giving game time to our many (maybe too many) young players with potential
Too young and inexperienced to judge on the investment. Yet, anyone part of the squad must be up for judging. He was part of the squad early on, not now however, so better reserve judgement. Alberto is part of the squad now though, and he deserves judgement. Verdict: not good enough for the LFC squad.
We knew we had no European football before we signed them so if they were never going to play this season then I just fail to see the point of signing them when we did, that money should have been used on a decent left back imo.
Cant believe how people judge young players [especially foreign players] after such a short time. Both these players are 20ish have moved to a completely new country have to get used to a new language [scouse as well!] get used to a new culture new climate etc etc Think it took Henderson a year to settle properly and he was English and used to cold horrible wet weather. Give them a break.
Fans sometimes can't separate the judgment on the gamble of the investment (yes, 7 mill for a Sporting B player is 9 times out of 10 too much) from the judgment of the player itself (too early, plus he's not part of the squad). Much easier too judge Aspas (definite stinker from any angle).
Its hard to judge a player that never plays and I think most people that are questioning these two signings are not judging the players but questioning the need to sign them in the first place when we could have used the money to strengthen other areas of the squad.
It wasn't an unnecessary investment IMO, but one that was needed for the near future. Agger's getting older and injury prone, Sakho unproven, Skrtel was on shaky ground with Rodgers, Kolo's old and ... Therefore an investment at CB was required. FSG policy meant that we looked at youth having bought Sakho. Problem with a young CB is they need time to bed in. Hopefully he's ready before we're pushed to go to market for a CB again.
balls the same size.... thats all im saying, i saw him play. we send scouts out to judge and buy but i can't offer my opinion.. not saying i'm as good as a scout but i think you can in fact take a look and get a feel for a guy. thats why i'm saying hmmm good for the lad to play a good game here by all accounts cos the time i did see him in red i was a bit oh oh.... oh and i said consistently about henderson precisely why he is where he is today. I also got in lots of fun debates about david n'dog cos it only took 2 reserve games to see he was a journeyman.
