Liverpool Loan Watch

Last week’s opening Liverpool Loan Watch column summarised the seasons so far for each player representing the club across England and further afield. This week there have been two changes; it has come to light Rafa Paez’ loan to Eibar was blocked for complex legal issues, while Jerome Sinclair went on loan to Wigan to join Sheyi Ojo. This week the column will be shorter, summarising recent news and performances from the nine lads on loan.

Divock Origi: There is simply nowhere else to start than with Divock Origi. The Belgian striker, who’s spending his first year as a Liverpool player – not as a Liverpool player – but a Lille player – scored a hat-trick on the weekend following a six month goal drought.

Indeed, before Origi’s hat-trick on the weekend in Lille’s consummate 3-0 victory over Rennes, he hadn’t scored since Origi last scored for the French side back in early October, against Wolfsburg in the Europa League. His last Ligue 1 goal was in September. The Belgium forward has endured a tough campaign and was even booed after missing a penalty back in December.

Origi nearly cut his loan short with Lille to move to Liverpool early in January, no doubt increasing the strain between him and the supporters. Mooted fees to cut the loan short were reportedly too high for Liverpool though, with the Reds opting to wait until the summer to work with the nifty striker.

Having scored just seven goals so far this campaign Origi will hope his recent exploits in front of goal will continue to improve, setting him up for his eventual move to Merseyside for next season.

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Rafa Paez: Although admittedly far from the most interesting of players on loan from Liverpool this season, the Spanish central-defender has been in the middle of a legal storm this week between Eibar and FIFA. While a loan at Bologna was cut short earlier in the season both Liverpool and Eibar agreed he could be loaned to the Spanish club last month. An administrative mistake has lead to a furore with appeals to FIFA made today.

ESPNFC today reported that Eibar has appealed to FIFA for international clearance so they can sign Paez. An official statement from Eibar read: “Sporting Club Eibar have appealed to FIFA regarding the international organisation’s decision not to grant them the transfer of Rafa Paez due to an administrative mistake that has now been corrected.”

Not news to make the heart skip a beat but something to keep an eye out for, should you be interested in youth players at the club.

Jerome Sinclair: Slightly more interesting news from the weekend came by the way of Jerome Sinclair has moving to Wigan on loan for the rest of the season. Notably Sinclair will be joining  up with academy teammate Sheyi Ojo who moved to the Latics on loan in January.

Sinclair has had a fine season at Liverpool’s academy, scoring 22 goals throughout the current campaign. While Sinclair has already made the Liverpool history books as their youngest ever senior appearance holder aged 16 year and six days, he has since stagnated through a series of niggly injuries.

Wigan boss Malky Mackay told the club website: “We are a club who will nurture a young player with potential. We are all hopeful that (Sinclair) can make a good contribution during his time here.

Tiago Ilori: The London-born central defender, who’s spending the season on loan at the French outfit Bordeaux backed up last week’s astute performance against Caen with another impressive showing against Ligue 1 champions PSG. On the back of PSG’s hugely impressive performance against Chelsea midweek it was expected they’d sweep the floor with Bordeaux, to get their flailing domestic campaign back on track- this, perhaps unsurprisingly, wasn’t the case.

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Ilori’s Bordeaux, who now sit in 6^th place, beat the Parisians 3-2 with Ilori playing the full 90 minutes. While his side may have conceded twice, most importantly he is playing and staying fit. Another player to keep an eye on between now and May.

The Rest: Lloyd Jones moved to Accrington Stanley on loan during the week. The central defender, who previously spent time at Cheltenham Town earlier in the season, has gone to the league two club on an initial one month loan.

Andre Wisdom’s West Brom may have beaten Stoke City on the weekend, but the Liverpool loanee once again didn’t play at all. Previously mentioned Sheyi Ojo spending his time at Wigan was at the disappointing end of a loss for the Latics. Wigan lost 2-0 which leaves them in 22^nd place and heading for relegation. Ojo did play the full game though, with Sinclair coming off the bench in the second half.

Elsewhere Joao Carlos Teixiera didn’t come off the bench in Brighton’s 0-0 draw with Millwall disappointingly. Although there are others out on loan such as Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto there is no news of note there either.

Editors Note: The curtailing of peripheral news of loanees like above will be part of the ongoing improved format. If this is not to your tastes then comment below and we’ll work to suit our readers.