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Of those that have broken through under Brendan Rodgers, especially during his first season in charge, few would have predicted that Suso would be the first to leave. He worked his way into the first team early in the fall of 2012 and remained a regular starter, outlasting even Raheem Sterling until playing time was limited over the season's final months. During that time he showed enough promise for most to assume that he'd find his way back to the first team for years to come, and even after news emerged that he would be spending the 2013-2014 season on loan at Almeria, it looked a detour to what would be a return to the senior squad under Rodgers.
Something along the way went off track, however, and now the Spanish playmaker is set for a permanent deal to join AC Milan. The only question now is when, and the Telegraph is reporting that the two clubs are in agreement of a small fee that will see the player join this month. Talk had originally focused on an agreement that would see him leave Merseyside at the end of the season, but having already completed his medical--something with which Liverpool were reportedly none too pleased--there's now just a matter of days before the deal is done.
Finalizing the deal this month is, according to Football Italia, contingent on the sale of Riccardo Saponara, who's been rumored to join a host of clubs in Italy over the winter. Milan won't have to pay much for Suso, though, and if reports out of England are accurate, Saponara's fate isn't going to determine Suso's.
As has been discussed since news broke, it's a strange sequence of events for a player who commanded such high regard early in his Liverpool career, but one that's become less and less surprising as the confirmation approaches. The talent is there, no doubt, but as the chances didn't come, it became clear that he was going to have to head elsewhere, either on loan again or permanently, to get them.
Hopefully he takes them, even if it would be difficult from a Liverpool supporter's perspective to watch him make good on the promise he has displayed in his young career. His time on Merseyside is coming to an end, but he's got plenty of years left to assert himself as a top-level talent.
