The future of Jake Livermore: Is it time to sell him?

Rumors today have surfaced that Spurs have rebuffed Everton's advances for academy product Jake Livermore. With Darron Gibson injured and Marouane Fellaini's departure looking likely, David Moyes apparently wants Livermore on loan to fill out his thinning midfield. However, Daniel Levy is understandably reluctant to strengthen the squad of our direct rival for a Champions League place.

But with Mousa Dembele, Sandro, Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone, and perhaps even Tom Carroll ahead of him on the center mid depth chart, it makes little sense to hang on to Livermore. Lingering on the bench for the rest of the season is the last thing he needs, particularly at this stage in his development. Livermore burst onto the scene last year with some assured displays and became our most successful academy graduate since Ledley King. He did so well in fact, that it prompted our own Kevin McCauley to declare him a suitable successor to Luka Modric.

Unfortunately, an injury-hit campaign and a new manager has seen his chances dwindle this year, and at his age Jake Livermore needs to get a consistent run of games under his belt at a competitive level if he's ever going to reach his potential.

West Brom, Reading, Norwich, and QPR have also been linked with our homegrown England international, all of whom would be happy to take him on loan or buy him outright. A reunion with Harry Redknapp across town at QPR seems the most likely destination, and a relegation scrap with the man who gave him his chance in the Premier League could be just thing to kickstart Jake Livermore's career.

But will a half-season loan at QPR give him the game time experience he needs to develop? Mind you, despite clearly being completely terrible QPR already has some fairly decent competition in the center of the pitch with Granero, Faurlin, Diakite, Park, and Derry already competing for playing time. And is Harry "Just f***ing run about a bit" Redknapp the guy to bring the best out of Livermore?

Jake Livermore has always been a player without an identity. He's not a defensive midfielder, he's not a passing midfielder, he's not really specialized in any way. He's kind of a box-to-box guy, but last year Spurs didn't really utilize that role. So he's always found himself as a utility man, plugging holes as needed. But he's an excellent passer of the ball with incredible athleticism. Someone needs to harness his gifts and deliberately mold him into a particular style of player before it's too late and he turns into Jermaine Jenas.

What do you want to see Spurs do with our academy man? Should we loan him out in the hopes that he'll come back and be an important player for Spurs in the future, or should we just try and sell him now?

Follow @CartilageFree on Twitter | Like Cartilage Free Captain on Facebook