I think Brendan feels Ibe is learning faster than Lazar and as he wants both players to play regularly this season he had to make a call on which one to send out on loan.
This will be a make or break season for Lazar's future with us. If he takes the Turkish league by storm then Brendan will have no excuse not to play him next season. Then we will really know if the lad was ever given a fair chance.
The worrying thing is, when you look at Ibe's form, then that makes the attacking options more vulnerable if Markovic is gone.
I'm very surprised and disappointed at Markovic going on loan - I thought he could do a job for us in the Europa League in particular. I really don't think Brendan's given the lad a proper chance. It's not his fault that a culmination of f**k ups in last season led to him being forced into a position at right back or right wing, when naturally he plays better in the middle, which he was never given a chance at.
He won us that match at Sunderland, looked decent and that home match against Basle where he impressed off the bench (before being sent off) to the point I think his impact could have seen us turn things around in that game.
Mightily disappointed in the way the club have handled him since arriving to the club.
The question now is who will deputise for him. Off the top off my head we have Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Ibe. Considering three of those four start, isn't that pretty thin on the ground? Unless we give the youth like Teixera a shot?
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