Aston Villa has signed Portuguese defender Tiago Ilori on a season-long loan from Liverpool.
TRANSFER NEWS: Villa sign @TiagoIlori4 on season-long loan from @LFC. Info: http://t.co/hqmY8TsRto #AVFC #DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/AFQWNzc8RC
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) September 1, 2015
The 22-year-old put pen to paper on the contract in the final moments of deadline day.
Ilori, who cost Liverpool £7m from Sporting Lisbon in 2013, had spent the previous two seasons on loan at Granada and Bordeaux but aimed to challenge for a first -team place at Anfield this term. However, Rodgers appears to have been unconvinced by the London-born defender and he was made available ahead of deadline day.
He was expected to play a bigger role under manager Brendan Rodgers this term after an impressive under 21 European Championship campaign, but after suffering an injury during preseason, Joe Gomez looks to have instead capitalized on the opportunity to earn himself a regular place in the squad.
The 22-year-old rejected a proposed of a loan move to Sunderland before Villa proved a more tempting offer. Tim Sherwood’s team will pay an initial £1m loan fee with an option to buying Ilori outright next summer. It is understood the permanent fee would allow Liverpool to recoup their costs on the Portugal under-21 international.
Ilori has 36 youth caps for different Portuguese youth setups and is touted to have a great future and Liverpool fans won’t be happy with the deal.
Liverpool also hoped to remove the £65,000-a-week José Enrique from their wage bill, but interest from West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland failed to materialize into a deal.
West Brom had looked set to sign Enrique for a nominal fee, but that move has fallen through. The Spanish left-back had also been linked with Sunderland, but the North East outfit insist they aren’t interested.
As a result, Enrique now looks set to stay at Liverpool for the final year of his contract – despite being told by Reds manager Brendan Rodgers that he has no future at the club.
The former Newcastle United defender took to Twitter to say: “Just to let you all know that it wasn’t any offer from West Brom for me. I’m happy to stay and fight for my place.”