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A busy weekend is fully underway for Liverpool, as they've now had both new central defenders undergo medicals at Melwood and will begin to focus on completing a loan deal for Chelsea's Victor Moses, who's been pushed out of the picture as a first-team regular by the London club's summer business. Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Ilori have both apparently finished their medicals with little incident and are set to be in attendance tomorrow as Liverpool host Manchester United, and it looks as though an agreement to bring Moses to Merseyside on a temporary basis should follow shortly.
From the BBC's Ben Smith earlier:
Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Ilori have undergone medicals with #LFC today. Both should be at Anfield tomorrow.
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) August 31, 2013
#LFC also increasingly hopeful of a deal to sign Victor Moses on a season-long loan from #CFC. More on @BBCSport
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) August 31, 2013
The deals for Sakho and Ilori will see the club spend somewhere in the neighborhood of £20-25m, a sum generally viewed as acceptable to help bolster an area of need both immediately and longer term. There's less consensus about the proposed terms of the Moses loan, as we don't really have any clarity as to whether or not the rumored loan fee of £2m is still a thing and there had not initially appeared to be any option for Liverpool to purchase the player once the loan was up.
I'm behind the deal if the loan fee is gone--or at least reduced significantly--and he's available to purchase if he impresses. There's little to dislike beyond those two concerns; he would immediately improve Liverpool's squad and see regular minutes, providing support in attack as part of the starting eleven or off the bench. Worries about crowding out Raheem Sterling and Jordon Ibe are, at least for me, slightly overblown, as they both need to be brought along slowly over the course of this season and a few more to follow.
Hopefully the club can reach terms that are more agreeable, and that at some point over the next day or so we'll see Liverpool get this one wrapped up.