LIVERPOOL MANAGER BRENDAN Rodgers says the Reds are unlikely to make more purchases during the current transfer window.
Rodgers has brought in Joe Allen, Fabio Borini and Oussama Assaidi on permanent deals since arriving from Swansea City, but says the club ‘is in need of repair’ before it is able to purchase more expensive players.
In comparison, the Northern Irishman’s predecessor, Kenny Dalglish, oversaw heavy spending on four players in the six months leading up to his departure from Anfield.
“No, not at this stage,” Rodgers told reporters when asked about further signings. “I am aware of the links and it is great that those players want to come here but the reality is that we are not in a position to do deals like that.
“The club, in financial terms, is in need of repair so those players linked and for those sums linked, I don’t have the ability to do that, unfortunately. Certainly not in this transfer window anyway. That is the reality of it. Unfortunately it is going to take more than one window.
“The transition of the squad is probably going to take this window and through to next summer. This is an incredible club and so some players who come here, even if you want to move them on, are not going to just walk out of the door because of wages and other factors.
It is going to take us a wee bit of time to build the squad that we want but, in the meantime, we just have to keep our heads down and work hard to get results.”
Rodgers went on to hint that it was unfeasible to retain players such as Andy Carroll, who has been linked with a move away from Liverpool, in a role as a backup player when so much money in transfer fees and wages had been spent on him.
“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that Andy has been a cover player for us,” he continued.
“He has been excellent in terms of his attitude and his acceptance of where he is at but, for us as a football club, and I am talking generically here, I’m not sure we are in a position to have 35-million-pound players as third-choice strikers or wingers who might be on five million-six million a year. I don’t think the football club is in that position.
“This is the challenge that I have to work something but it is not going to be done overnight.”
