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Central defense has become something of a sore spot in recent weeks, with arguably the two best defenders out injured in Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Kolo Toure inconsistent at best, and, as evidenced by the lack of any defenders other than Martin Kelly on the bench yesterday, no reliable or experienced backup available.
We thought the club might make more frequent use of Tiago Ilori after he arrived at the end of the summer window; between his price tag and skill set, it seemed that he was a good fit for Brendan Rodgers' preferred style. As the fall wore on, however, appearances didn't come with the senior squad, and Rodgers made mention as winter approached that the plan had been to get the young Portuguese defender familiar with the city and the club, and then ship him off on loan for the final half of the season to get desperately needed minutes.
The manager underlined his intentions this last week, and now it looks as though a move to Granada is all but set, with the player reportedly confirming the move (via Tutto Mercado and Google Translate, with an awesome headline):
"I want to play and I'm excited about this opportunity. I'm Going to Granada with the aim of winning a starting spot, which depends on me. You a club in the Spanish first division, in which I hope to finish the season in a positive way, helping my new team-mates to achieve the objectives. Liverpool? I'm not disappointed, I still feel I made the right choice."
A starting spot after such a long layoff from meaningful minutes would be a tremendous achievement, and I think most would settle for regular appearances with the mid-table side. If the move does go through without any complications, it's possible he could make the squad for next weekend's visit to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid.
In the meantime, we can spend our time engaging in civilized discussion about wasted funds and bad tactics and nobody being bought yet and I wonder what Sebastian Coates is doing right about now.
