You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

With a fortnight left in the January transfer window, Lazar Markovic remains on the Liverpool wage bill.

The Reds are open to offers for the Serbian winger. In truth they have been for the past three-and-a-half years.

There was talk recently of interest from the Chinese Super League but so far nothing concrete has materialised.

Any fee at this stage would be nominal anyway with Markovic's lucrative contract, which is understood to be worth around £50,000 per week, set to expire in June.

The 24-year-old may decide to sit tight and leave as a free agent come the summer. After all he's become accustomed to watching on from afar.

It's a sad state of affairs. The £20million signing from Benfica made the last of his 34 senior appearances for the Reds against QPR back in May 2015.

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Markovic has been banished to train with the under-23s at the Kirkby Academy since he rejected a move to Anderlecht last August.

Liverpool had thrashed out a £2.9million deadline day deal with the Belgium outfit, as well as a 50% sell-on clause, but he failed to agree personal terms. Markovic later claimed that “money was not the issue” but Anderlecht insisted otherwise.

You can follow all the latest Liverpool news and transfer gossip HERE

Markovic hasn't been a disruptive influence at Kirkby. Far from it.

Liverpool Under-23s coach Neil Critchley told the ECHO: “I've got to say he's been brilliant to work with. He's great with the young lads, he's humble and he listens to what's asked of him.”

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Markovic appeared as an overage player in their games against Arsenal and West Brom in the autumn before a calf injury kept him sidelined for a month.

He returned to action last month but hasn't featured since December 8. When the Reds have got young, hungry attacking players desperate for game time, it makes little sense to play Markovic ahead of them.

Since he last graced a first-team game for Liverpool, he's had loan spells at Fenerbache, Sporting Lisbon, Hull City and Anderlecht.

It's currently a lonely existence for a player who was once the fifth most expensive signing in Liverpool's history.

He arrived with a big reputation after clinching back-to-back titles with Partizan Belgrade and a domestic treble with Benfica.

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“I can say that apart from Ronaldo and Messi, Markovic is one of the best talents I’ve ever seen at 19 years of age,” said former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, who managed him at Partizan.

Talk about potential unfulfilled. From the start, Markovic always looked too lightweight to handle the physicality of the Premier League. Questions were asked about his work ethic.

He complained that Brendan Rodgers had cast him aside too early but Jurgen Klopp was just as underwhelmed.

Markovic is still young enough to go somewhere and salvage his career. Liverpool will hope he grasps that chance in the next fortnight rather than making them wait until the summer to draw a line under an expensive mistake.