Liverpool make huge transfer mistake selling Jordan Ibe

Liverpool would have been much better served holding on to Jordan Ibe for a little while longer

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is still in his honeymoon phase with the Anfield faithful, and as such, isn’t likely to catch much stick for selling Jordan Ibe at the moment. A few years from now, this may look like one of Klopp’s biggest mistakes at Liverpool.

Reports from England claim that Liverpool are set to sell Ibe to Middlesbrough for 15 million pounds. The pacy Englishman is far from a finished product, but at just 20 years of age, he still has plenty of career growth ahead of him. Now, it seems that he’ll develop his game away from the watchful eyes of the German manager.

This move is potentially a very serious mistake by Klopp and the rest of the Liverpool transfer committee. They were undoubtedly frustrated with Ibe’s inconsistent play last season. No one can blame them for that. What we can blame them for is giving up on a very talented prospect before it was necessary.

Ibe was expected to come into his own last season and help replace Raheem Sterling in the Liverpool starting 11. Looking back, that was entirely too much pressure to put on the young starlet. He wasn’t mature enough to handle that type of responsibility and his uneven performances illustrated that all season long.

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Unfortunately for Liverpool fans, Klopp and company have overreacted greatly to the inconsistency of a 20-year-old attacker. He’s a player they should be investing serious time and resources developing. Instead, they’re going to take a quick profit of 15 million pounds as they send him away.

I just don’t understand why Liverpool was in such a hurry to get rid of Ibe. He may have struggled to really carve out playing time at Anfield next season, but the club could have found him a very productive loan spell to aid his development. Quite a few smaller Premier League clubs would have been more than happy to take Ibe for the season and offer him significant playing time.

That year away from the club would have given him time to develop his game without the pressure of trying to replace Sterling. Even if the loan spell didn’t go well, Liverpool still could have commanded at least 15 million pounds for his services next season due to his age and international involvement.

If Ibe would have really played well during a Premier League loan, Liverpool would have a real asset on their hands. At that point, Klopp could have chosen to cash out for additional money, or find a way to integrate Ibe into his own squad.

Jordan Ibe isn’t ready to play for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool today, but at his age things can change very quickly. Liverpool are wrong to cash out on the talented starlet too cheaply and too soon.

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