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A deal remains far from a sure thing with less than thirty minutes to go in the transfer window, but reports suggest that Aston Villa have come to terms with Liverpool over a deal for Tiago Ilori and are currently working with the player in an attempt to agree personal terms.
According to journalists with ties to Liverpool, the deal would involve Villa paying Liverpool £1M to bring the defender to the West Midlands club on loan for the coming season. It would also include a purchase option such that Villa could decide to keep Ilori on at the club permanently next summer.
As of now, exact details of the purchase option are unclear, but no matter what they turn out to be, if the deal goes through many Liverpool fans will struggle with the idea that this Ilori loan could easily turn into a permanent transfer for the young Portuguese centre half.
The 22-year-old Ilori arrived on Merseyside in 2013 for a reported fee of £7M, and has since spent time on loan with Granada in Spain and Bordeaux in France. He has yet to make a senior appearance for Liverpool, and it looks as though in the end he may never do so.
There were hopes a strong pre-season could push Ilori into contention for minutes this season, perhaps as Liverpool's fourth centre half, and that he would at least see time in the cups. Instead, if a deal can be finished before 6PM BST, he will become an Aston Villa player—at least for this season and maybe even longer.
Aston Villa still trying to get a deal for Ilori done. Would be a season long loan. Fee would be £1m, Villa would then have option to buy
— Dominic King (@DominicKing_DM) September 1, 2015
