Respected journalist reckons Liverpool will aim to sell Lazar Markovic in the summer

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BBC Sport’s former Liverpool expert Ben Smith spoke to Anfield HQ this week.

One of the many interesting topics up for discussion was the future of Lazar Markovic, who has been on loan at Fenerbahce this season after a disappointing debut campaign at Anfield.

Markovic failed to make much of an impact upon arriving from Benfica in the 2014 summer, but he wasn’t given a fair crack by Brendan Rodgers and often had to play out of position.

Jurgen Klopp has kept the door open for Markovic’s Liverpool future, and Smith has revealed that our German manager has been keeping a close eye on the Serbian winger’s progress.

But, when asked about the future of the 22-year-old, the respected journalist also told Anfield HQ that he expects us to try to get our money back for the £20m signing in the summer.

He is quoted as saying: “That’s an interesting question. I think he’s done OK this season.

“The difficulty for him having been on loan is that he’s playing in an area of the field were Liverpool have more strength than in any other really If you bring Markovic back in, what does that mean for someone like Jordon Ibe or players like that?

“I think if Liverpool can get a fee for him, they will do. I think Jurgen Klopp wants to look at everybody, to give everybody a chance, no question. Fernabache it seems don’t want now to turn that deal into a permanent one, so I suspect Klopp will look at him.

“But I also suspect the plan will be to try and get a good offer for him, again £20m+ for Markovic does seem like an awful lot of money right now and he’s unquestionably talented, he’s young but he’s really struggled and Klopp has monitored him in every game this season, but it’s a question of whether the right offer comes in, and whether he can do enough in the weeks in training to impress the manager to get a chance to stick around.”

Markovic is young and would be worth a clean slate under a new manager. His future will probably depend on what Klopp makes of him when the player reports for pre-season.

It would be sad to see him go without him ever really being given a run in his best position, but, at the same time, he would not be a huge loss if we buy well in the summer.

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