Liverpool Submit €4.2m Bid for Sporting Lisbon Defender – Report

Liverpool are hoping to confirm another signing in the coming days after submitting an offer for Sporting Lisbon's young central defender Tiago Ilori.

The Reds have been heavily linked with the 20 year old in recent weeks and it seems as though the club are determined to try and complete as much of their business as possible in the early weeks of the transfer window.

Manager Brendan Rodgers has already managed to bring one defender to the club as Kolo Toure will arrive from Manchester City on a free later this month, while a deal is in place to sign Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas.

Now Portuguese publication O Jogo reports that Liverpool have made an offer of €4.2m for the Sporting Lisbon defender, which could see another €800,000 arrive through a series of performance related bonuses.

The publication claims that the Lions are holding out for a bid in the region of €7m but that they are prepared to negotiate with the club because of the difficult financial situation they have found themselves in.

Sporting have historically struggled to hang on to their best players and with the club now suffering financially they may well be forced to accept a lower offer than the player would normally command.

They have already accepted an offer from Norwich for star striker Rickie van Wolfswinkel and it now seems they may lose one of their brightest young prospects in Ilori.

The centre back, who was born in London but raised in Portugal, was only brought into the first team in December last year but quickly demonstrated his ability and went on to play 10 league games as Sporting recovered from a dreadful start to the season to eventually finish in seventh.

Ilori has represented Portugal at Under-20 level and would most likely be viewed by Rodgers as a player that can not only develop into a top-class centre back, but would also quickly challenge the likes of Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel for a regular place in the first team.

Liverpool will hope that they can tie up the deal within the coming days as there is bound to be plenty of interest from numerous clubs for the young defender.