Tiago Ilori’s career at Liverpool is yet to take off. The defender was signed as a highly-rated youngster from Sporting Lisbon in 2013 and the deal was reported to be around £7 million.
Ilori was born in London, but is a Portuguese Under-21 international, currently on duty with them at the European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic who was born in London. He made his debut for Sporting when he was just 18.
Upon his arrival at Anfield, there was talk of him breaking the record for the fastest 30 metre sprint at Sporting, beating the likes of Ricardo Quaresma, Nani and World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo. So it was clear that he possessed pace; a precious commodity for centre-backs.
When he joined, he was a 20-year-old who was probably seeking first team football. But Brendan Rodgers felt he couldn’t offer him that so in January 2014, he sent him out on loan to newly promoted Spanish side Granada.
He did not feature as much as he would have liked in Spain, he didn’t make his debut for them until February. But Ilori did play in the 0-0 draw against Barcelona and defended commandingly to keep a clean sheet. He returned from Spain and was named in Rodgers’ 33-man pre-season squad for the tour of USA.
But he did not feature enough to convince Rodgers that he can stay and contest for a spot in the Liverpool team. Competition for a berth in the Liverpool defence is heavy with Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure all vying for place in the team.
Therefore, Rodgers sent the young man out loan again, this time to French club Girondins de Bordeaux. Former France international defender and Bayern Munich legend Willy Sagnol is the manager of Bordeaux and under his tutelage, Ilori played in 12 matches and scored one goal.
So what does the future have in store for young Ilori?
It could be said that after two consecutive loans, the Portuguese defender has not progressed as smoothly as he would have liked. He has suffered from a series of injuries which has curtailed both his loan spells. But when he did play, he showed enough promise to suggest to me that he could be the player to lead the Liverpool defence for years to come.
Rodgers’ plans for the young man remains to be seen. In my opinion, a good pre-season for the Reds could see him break his way into the team but it is a tough ask.
One could see the logic behind another loan move, but only if it was for a Premier League side. Hopefully his first Liverpool appearance is not far away.
