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Brendan Rodgers appears to have scuppered Sunderland's faint hopes of securing the services of Fabio Borini on a permanent deal by insisting the Italian is part of his Liverpool plans.
Gus Poyet had revealed he will try to sign the striker again should Premier League survival be won in the remaining ten games of the season. That possibility will be 'reviewed' come the summer, but looks unlikely.
Rodgers told reporters:
Fabio went out to get games, go on loan and play more regularly than he was playing here.
He has done that and showed with some of the goals he has scored - particularly against the big teams - the qualities that he has. The goal he scored in the Capital One Cup final was a fantastic goal.
He has gone away to get experience of playing. Fabio will come back in the summer and he will be better for having played that season. And we'll review it from there.
I just felt at the time that he needed to play. I felt it was important for him to go and get games, and get games regularly.
He has played as a striker, played wide and played in pressure games, and he has done very well. As a young player, I felt it was important for him to do that. Hopefully, in the future, Liverpool will benefit from it.
It's not altogether surprising news and it's all very reminiscent of the Danny Rose situation last summer. Liverpool don't really have much depth in terms of strikers, and with a European campaign looming Borini would essentially be a very good and pre-paid-for addition to their squad.
Ah well. Suppose we should just be worrying about actually staying up this season rather than what happens next.
