Food For Thought: Here Are 2 Players Liverpool Should Have Sold This Summer

Not very surprisingly, but the Merseyside outfit, Liverpool, have started their new Premier League campaign quite inconsistently. They thrashed out the Emirates club Arsenal on the opening day of the season, but then went on to face a humiliating 2-0 defeat at the Turf Moor against Burnley and lastly, a 1-1 draw against Tottenham was the only thing they got.

So far, the Reds have earned just four points out of the possible nine, and even though it has just been three games, things aren’t looking very positive for the former Borussia Dortmund manager. He arrived at the club midway to the last season and the sense of optimism was clearly sensed into the Anfield spectators.

Soon after finishing his 2015-16 season, the manager didn’t waste any time and started reshaping his squad. He didn’t hesitate to show the exit door to some of his players, and besides that, he brought in seven new players in order to assert his authority in the League, but a series of injury to some players and inconsistency have limited his use of the new names.

He indeed has done a great business thus far, but besides that, we really think that he should have sold some names as they do not really have any role and will surely lag behind in the line-up and therefore, we give you two names, Liverpool should have sold this summer:

1. Tiago Ilori-

The first and utmost name in the list would be of this London-born Portuguese professional. The 23-year-old centre-back joined the Reds back in September 2013 from the Portuguese side Sporting and since then, he has been struggling to find his way into the starting lineup. The Portuguese U23 international does have a huge potential but do not really have a concrete role.

According to the reports from the Daily Mail, the 23-year-old was a subject of an interest from a host of European clubs, namely, Granada, Valencia and Aston Villa, but Liverpool were unwilling to sell Ilori on cheap and were also not in the favour to let him leave on a temporary transfer. The 23-year-old hasn’t featured for the Reds in the Premier League since joining them three years ago, and that is the sole reason we believe that he should have been sold.

Furthermore, the centre-back is easily a 5^th or 6^th choice player for the manager and given the fact that there will be no European nights at the Anfield, his participation in the league itself is looking highly unlikely. And now the sad part here is, the reports have claimed that the player will be now featuring for the U-23 side rather than for the senior ones.

2. Lazar Markovic-

At one point in his career, the Serbian international was touted as a next big thing in Europe and the one who saw him performing for Benfica and Partizan only praised him for his technical abilities. The 22-year-old joined the Reds back in 2014, and many footballing experts suggested that not expect much from the player as he will be needing his time to settle down in the League.

And that, fortunately, was a true assumption as he only managed 19 Premier League appearances in his debut season and came out worst for him that he was played out of his natural position. Markovic, who usually played a number 10 role with Benfica, was deployed on a wing back position for the majority of his time on the pitch and denied his progress.

During the initial stages of the 2015-16 season, the Serbian was sent to the Turkish outfit Fenerbahce to rejuvenate his career, but his time in the League was cut down in February 2016 as he suffered a hamstring injury. He then returned to his parent club and Klopp even mentioned that he will be a Liverpool man, but on the deadline day, Marković returned to the Portuguese capital, joining Benfica’s rival Sporting Clube de Portugal on a season-long loan. Loan deals are ok, but talking practically, we truly believe that Markovic isn’t built to play in the Premier League (no offence though), and that is why he should have been sold this summer.