Tiago Ilori transfer latest: Liverpool defender rejects chance to go out on loan again in order to fight for a first-team place
Ilori has returned to Liverpool following two seasons spent on loan at Granada and Bordeaux
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori has shunned the chance to go out on loan for the third straight season and sent out a warning to team-mates Dejan Lovren and Martin Skrtel by declaring: "I want to play."
Ilori signed for the Reds in 2013 for a reported £7m fee, but he is yet to make his professional debut for the club and has instead been sent out on loan to Granada in 2013/14 and Bordeaux last season.
However, the 22-year-old has set his sights on winning a place in the Liverpool first team, and in a declaration of intent to manager Brendan Rodgers, he has stressed that he will not be going out on loan this time around in order to battle for his place in the side.
“I want to play for Liverpool,” Ilori said when speaking to the Liverpool Echo. “I don’t want to be in Liverpool just to be sitting around. My objective is the same as every other player, we all want to play so everyone’s going to fight for their place.
“I joined Liverpool two seasons ago to play for Liverpool, that is my number one objective so I’m going to do everything to make that happen.”
Ilori joined the Reds from Sporting Lisbon when he was still eligible for both Portugal and England, having been born in Hampstead in London before moving to his mother’s native Portugal – the country he now represents at under-21 level.
The centre-back was delayed in returning to Liverpool due to his participation in the European Under-21 Championship where he picked up an injury that has kept him sidelined, but he has set his sights on trying to get back to full fitness and challenging the likes of Lovren, Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure for a first-team berth.
“I haven’t played for a few months so the most important thing for me was to get back into action,” Ilori added. “It was frustrating to get injured but at the same time I hadn’t had a holiday for two years and you need some time off, so it came at the right time.”
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