Liverpool accept £3.75m bid from Reading for Tiago Ilori

Liverpool have accepted a £3.75m ($4.6m) bid from Championship club Reading for defender Tiago Ilori.

The Liverpool Echo reported that the transfer fee was agreed by the two clubs this week, paving the way for personal terms to be discussed.

Ilori, 23, joined Liverpool from Sporting Lisbon in 2013 in a £3.5m deal which potentially could have risen to £7m.

The Portuguese defender did not make a single Premier League appearance for Liverpool during his three-and-a-half-year stay at Anfield, and was sent out on loan to Granada, Bordeaux and Aston Villa.

All three of Ilori's first-team appearances for the Reds came in the FA Cup last season.

Manager Jurgen Klopp revealed last February that he was unaware that Ilori was a Liverpool player when he first arrived at the club.

"When I first came here I didn't know he was an LFC player to be honest. Of course not, he was at Aston Villa," the German coach was quoted as saying by the Echo.

"Time after time I got information about all the players who were on loan, I saw him,a centre-half, and you heard about the problems and you know he didn't play at Aston Villa, not even in the second team.

"We got him here and you see then the potential."

Reading, managed by former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam, are third in the Championship table.

Meanwhile, Liverpool centre-back Joel Matip is close to returning to full training after missing five matches due to an ankle injury.

The Cameroon international is not expected to play against Plymouth in the FA Cup on 8 January but could be fit in time for the trip to Manchester United on 15 January.

"[It's] getting better and in a few days I hope I'll be back in full training," Matip told Liverpoolfc.com.

"That's the plan but you never know how it will go. We are really positive and hope that this chapter is closed. It was my left ankle, a ligament was damaged. At the beginning it needed rest but after this I wanted to play too early."